Cu^'-'' 


THE 


INFLUENCE  OF  SENECA 


ON 


ELIZABETHAN  TRAGEDY 


AN    ESSAY 

BY 

JOHN  W.  CUNLIFFE,  D.Lit.,  M.A., 
Late  Berkeley  Fellow  of  the  Owens  College,  Manchester, 


1      >  ;  > 


'.    !   '  5  »  '  ^ 
MACMILLAN    AND    CO. 

AND  NEW  YORK 
1893 

ANASTATIC  REPRINT   1907. 

G.E.  STE  CHERT  &  eg.,  NEW  YORK. 


H 


PREFACE.        ^^ 


U 


/J 


This  investigation  was  suggested  to  me  while 
attending  Dr.  AVard's  English  Literature  Lectures  at 
the  Owens  College  in  the  Session  1885-6;  and  after 
going  through  the  degree  courses  on  which  I  was  then 
engaged,  I  gave  the  suhject  such  attention  as  was  at 
my  command.  It  would  prohahly  have  heen  a  long 
time  before  I  arrived  at  results  worthy,  even  in  my  own 
oi^inion,  of  publication,  but  for  my  appointment  to 
a  Bishop  Berkeley  Fellowship  at  the  College,  which  has 
enabled  me  to  give  undivided  attention  to  the  inquiry 
for  the  last  two  years.  I  have  to  thank  Dr.  Ward  for 
help  and  encouragement  in  addition  to  the  original 
suggestion  of  the  subject  of  investigation ;  indeed,  I 
should  have  liked  to  dedicate  this  little  work  to  him  as 
its  "  only  begetter,"  but  that  I  hesitate  to  connect  his 
name  with  faults  which  are  all  my  owu.  I  am  also 
under  obligations  to  Dr.  Willdns,  to  Mr.  Elton,  Lecturer 
in  English  Literature,  and  to  other  members  of  the  staff 
of  the  Owens  College  for  their  kiudly  interest  in  my 
work  and  ready  response  to  any  appeal  on  questions  of 
scholarship  in  connection  with  a  subject  which  has 
points  of  contact  with  many  branches  of  ancient  and 
modern  literature. 

In  giving  the  results  of  the  investigation,  I  have 
endeavoured  to  keep  as  closely  as  possible  to  the  main 
lines  of  an  inquiry  which  offers  unusual  temptations  to 


258628 


IV. 

digression.  I  may,  however,  be  permitted  to  state  here, 
very  shortly,  my  opinion  on  some  of  the  points  I  have 
decHned  to  discuss  in  the  essay.  The  identity  of  the 
Rutlior  of  the  tragedies  with  Seneca  the  philoso})her 
seems  to  me  sufficiently  estahhshed  ;  but  the  Octavia 
and  the  Hercules  Oelacm  are  clearly  not  his,  and  there 
is  something  to  be  said  against  the  Thebais  and  the 
Agamemnon.  As  to  the  Shakspercan  controversies  referred 
to,  I  accept  Miss  Jane  Lee's  theory  as  to  the  authorship 
of  Parts  II  and  III  of  Henry  VI,  and  it  seems  to  me 
not  unlikely  that  in  Richard  II L  Shakspere  made  use  of 
a  previous  play.  The  arguments  lately  brought  forward 
by  Idi'.  Sarrazin  in  Anglia,  coupled  with  the  recently  dis- 
covered fact  that  Kyd's  father  was  a  scrivener,  convince 
me  that  Kyd  is  the  tragedian  attacked  by  Nash  in  the 
Preface  to  Greene's  Mcn/qihon,  and  therefore  the  author  of 
the  old  Hamlet  upon  which  Shakspere  founded  his  immortal 
tragedy.  Having  given  considerable  attention  to  this 
famous  controversy,  I  was  tempted  to  add  another  appen- 
dix dealing  with  Nash's  allusions  and  the  developement 
of  the  Hamlet  tragedy,  but  in  the  end  I  deemed  it  wiser 
not  to  wander  so  far  from  the  path  on  which  I  had  set 
out. 

It  remains  to  be  added  that  the  essay  was  submitted 
to  the  examiners  for  the  Doctorate  of  Literature  in  the 
University  of  London,  and  accepted  by  them  as  a  sufficient 
qualification  for  the  degree. 

JOHN    W.    CUNLIFPE. 

January,   1893. 


THE  INFLUENCE  OF  SENECA  ON 
ELIZABETHAN^  TRAGEDY. 


The  influence  of  Seneca  (or,  to  speak  more  correctly,  of 
the  tragedies  ascribed  to  bini)  upon  the  Elizabethan 
drama  is  so  plainly  marked  that  no  competent  historian 
of  our  literature  could  fail  to  notice  it.  The  translations 
of  Seneca  and  their  connection  with  the  beginnings  of 
the  regular  drama  in  England  have  been  referred  to  by 
Warton,  by  Collier,  and  by  Dr.  Ward ;  and  Mr.  J.  A. 
Symonds  has  an  admirable  review  of  the  whole  subject.^ 
Indeed,  the  obligations  of  our  early  dramatists  to  Seneca 
did  not  escape  the  attention  of  contemporary  critics. 
Writing  "to  the  Gentlemen  Students  of  both  Universi- 
ties" in  the  preface  to  Greene's  Menaphon  (pub.  1589), 
Thomas  Nash  inveighs  in  his  usual  lively  style  against  ^^"'"^^  ■^'««''- 

*'  the  seruile  imitation  of  vain-glorious  tragoedians 

who  (mounted  on  the  stage  of  arrogance)  think  to  out- 
braue  better  pens  with  the  swelling  bumbast  of  a  bragging 
blanke  verse."     After  a  violent  outburst  of  contemptuous 

1  I  have  used  the  term  "Elizabethan"  in  its  broad  literary  meaning 
rather  than  in  the  strict  historical  sense.  It  seems  to  me  more  ex- 
pressive, as  well  as  more  convenient,  than  the  cumbrous  "  Elizabetho- 
Jacobaean,"  or  even  the  less  objectionable  term,  "pre-Restoration."  The 
drama  was  one  in  spirit  throughout  the  three  reigns,  and  exhibits  only 
continuous  stages  of  developement  from  the  first  plays  of  Lyly  and 
Marlowe  to  the  last  plays  of  Shirley. 

2  Shakspere's  Predecessors  in  the  English  Drama,  Chapter  VI. 


'  c  '     •    '   '   '     r'  • 


2  The  Influence  of  Seneca 

indignation,  be  threatens  "  to  leaiie  these  to  the  mercie 
of  their  mother  tonf]jne,  that  feed  on  nought  hut  the 
crummes  that  fal  from  the  translators  trencher;"  hut  he 
soon  resolves  to  "  turne  back  to  his  first  text ;  and  talke  a 
little  in  friendship  with  a  few  of  our  triuiall  translators." 
"It  is,"  he  says,  "a  common  practise  now  a  dales  amongst 
a  sort  of  shifting  companions,  that  ranne  through  euery 
arte  and  thriue  by  none,  to  leaue  the  trade  of  Noxierint 
whereto  they  were  borne,  and  busie  thcmsekies  with  the 
indeuors  of  Art,  that  could  scarcelie  latinize  their  uecke- 
verse  if  they  should  hauc  neede  ;  yet  English  Seneca  read 
by  candle  light  yeeldes  manie  good  sentences,  as  Bloid 
is  a  begger,  and  so  foortli :  and  if  you  intreate  him  fairc 
in  a  frostie  morning,  he  v/ill  affoord  you  whole  Hamkt:^, 
I  should  say  handfulls  of  tragical  speaches.  But  6  griefe ! 
tenipiis  edax  reriim,  what's  that  will  last  alwaies  ?  The  sea 
.exhfdedby  droppes  willin  continuance  be  drie,  and  Seneca 

I  let  blood  line  by  line  and  page  by  page,  at  kngth  must 

Vneedes  die  to  our  stage "  The  whole  passage  is  one  of 

great  interest  as  a  contemporary  criticism  of  the  dramatic 
models  of  the  time,  but  it  is  too  long  for  full  quotation . 

/I  must  content  myself  with  drawing  attention  to  the 
reference  to  the  translation  of  Seneca,  which  is  also 
mentioned  by  Ascham  in  The  Scholemaster  (1570),  by 
Arthur  Hall  in  the  preface  to  his  Homer  (1581),  by 
William  Webbe  in  his  Discourse  of  English  Poetric  (1586), 

'\and  by  Francis  Meres  in  Falladis  Tamia  (1598).  This 
ti'anslation,  which  held  a  high  place  in  the  esteem  of 
contemporary  critics,  and,  according  to  Nash,  was  laid 
under  heavy  contribution  by  the  dramatists,  merits  care- 


on  ^lizahethan  Tragedij.  3 

ful  examination,  becanse  of  its  close  and  important 
connection  with  the  subject  of  this  essay.  X 

The  translation  of  ft  en  ecn/s  ''  Tenn  e  Tva  gedies  ' '  ^^'  }f'',l'ff^'' 
appeared  as  a  whole  in  1581^  but  all  the  pla3^s  composing 
the  volume  had  been  previously  published,  with  the 
exception  of  the  fragmentary  Thehais.  The  Troas_  had 
been  printed  in  1559,  the  Thiit\<ites  in  1^0^  the  Hercules 
Furcns  in  1561,  all  from  the  pen  of  Jasper  Hey  Wood  ; 
the  Oedipus  was  translated  by  Alexander  Nevvle  in  1560 

-*■  *■  *. 

and  published  in  1563;  the  Octavia  was  done  by  Thomas 
Nuce  in  1562  and  printed  in  1566,  the  3Tec1ea  and 
Agamemnon  by  John  Studley  q3pearing  in  the  same  year; 
the  Hippolijius  was  licensed  to  Henry  Denham  in  1556-7, 
and  was  doubtless  printed,  though  no  copy  of  this  edition 
is  known  ;  the  Thehais  was  added  in  1581  by  Thomas 
Newton,  the  editor  of  the  whole^  for  the  sake  of  compltte- 
ness.    .. 

The  translation  seems  to  have  been  intended,  at 
least  in  part,  for  dramatic  representation.  Nevyle,  in  his 
preface  to  the-  Oeilipiis,  says  his  translation  was  not  at 
first  meant  for  publication,  "but  ouely  to  satisfy  the 
instant  requests  of  a  few  my  familiar  frends,  who  thought 
to  haue  put  it  to  the  very  same  vse,  that  Seneca  himselfe 
in  his  luuention  pretended  :  Which  was  by  the  tragicall 
and  Pompous  showe  upon  Stage,  to  admonish  all 
men .  .  .  ."  The  translator  of  the  Troas  seems  to  have 
had  the  same  end  in  view,  as  may  be  gathered  from  the 
last  line  of  the  chorus  at  the  end  of  Act  II : — 

Aud  now  (good  Ladies)  heare  wluit  eliall  be  done. 


4  The  Ivfluence  of  Seneca. 

Taken  as  a  whole  the  translation  is  generally  close, 
but  not  always  correct.  Difficult  passages  are  rendered 
in  a  literal  and  often  meaningless  way,  and  sometimes 
slurred  over  or  omitted  altogether.  Occasionally  the 
translator  expands  a  familiar  reflection,  or  inserts  a  few 
lines  of  his  own.  Jasper  Heywood  added  a  long  soliloquy 
to  the  Thijcstes,  and  made  in  the  Troas  a  considerable 
number  of  alterations,  which  he  details  in  the  preface  to 
that  tragedy ;  his  additions  are  affected  to  some  extent 
by  the  tastes  of  his  time,  but  are  for  the  most  part  after 
the  style  of  the  original,  the  third  Chorus  in  Heywood's 
Troas  being  borrowed  from  the  third  Chorus  in  Seneca's 
Hippolytus.     There   is   an   interesting   insertion   in  the 

speech  of  Phaedra  on  folio  73  (And  sith  that  I )  by 

Stadley,  who  also  altered  the  first  Chorus  in  the  Medea 
out  of  all  semblance  of  translation,  and  added  to  the 
Agamemnon  a  long  speech  by  Eurybates.  Studley  also 
made  omissions  and  additions  of  some  interest  in  the 
Hercules  Oetaeus.  In  Nevyle's  Oedipus  the  first  Chorus  is 
considerably  shortened,  the  second  is  left  out  altogether, 
and  the  third  and  fourth  bear  little  or  no  resemblance  to 
the  original.  Nevyle  apologises  for  thus  "  adding  and 
subtracting  at  pleasure,"  and  in  the  preface  to  the  Troas 
Heywood  excuses  himself  on  the  ground  that  the  author's 
mind  is  "  in  many  places  verye  harde  and  doubtfull,  and 
the  worke  much  corrupt  by  the  default  of  euil  printed 
Bookes."  Doubtless  everyone  of  the  translators  would 
be  able  to  make  with  truth  the  avowal  of  the  editor, 
Newton,  "  Yet  this  dare  I  saye,  I  haae  deliuered  myne 
Authors  meaning  with  as  much  perspicuity,  as  so  meane 


on   EHzahethan  Tragedy.  5 

a  Scholler,  out  of  so  meane  a  stoare,  in  so  smal  a  time, 
and  vpon  so  short  a  warning  was  well  able  to  performe;" 
and  when  we  take  into  consideration  the  state  of  the  text 
at  that  day,  and  the  youth  of  some  of  the  authors  (Nevyle 
was  only  15),  the  translation  seems  a  very  creditable, 
and  even  an  admirable  performance.  There  is  every 
evidence  that  it  was  highly  esteemed  and  extensively 
used  ;  but  I  have  been  unable  to  confirm  Nash's  taunt 
that  playwrights  ignorant  of  Latin  found  in  English 
Seimca,  not  merely  "manie  good  sentences,"  but  "whole 
Hamlets,  I  should  say  handfulls  of  tragical  speaches."  A 
large  and  important  chapter  of  Shaksperean  controversy 
centres  in  this  reference  by  Nash  in  1589  to  an  earlier  The  Ea,H«r 

JIaintet. 

Hamlet,  which  is  also  referred  to  in  Lodge's  Wits 
miserie,  and  the  Worlds  madnessc,  discoveHng  the  Devils 
incarnat  of  this    Age    (1596).      One    of    these  devils    is 

described  as  "  a  foule  lubber,  who looks  as  pale  as 

the  visard  of  the  ghost,  which  cried  so  miserally  at  the 
theater,  like  an  oisterwife,  Hamlet  reuenge."  We  find 
from  Henslowe's  Dia^-y  that  a  Hamlet  had  been  acted  at 
Newiogton  on  June  9th,  1594,  and  there  is  also  a 
reference  by  Tucca  in  Dekker's  Satirornastix  (1602).  This 
earlier  Hamlet  doubtless  formed  the  foundation  for 
Shakspere's  tragedy  as  we  have  it,  but  the  text  of  1603-4 
offers  no  confirmation  for  Nash's  sneers,  and  the  German 
Hamlet  published  by  Mr.  Cohn  does  not  help  us.  Doubt- 
less in  the  old  Hamlet,  if  we  had  it,  we  should  be  able  to 
discover  the  "good  sentences"  and  "tragical  speaches" 
borrowed  by  the  author  from  English  Seneca;  and  in 
many  other  old  plays  now  lost  we  might  find  evidence  in 


6  The  Infiucnce  of  Seneca 

support  of  Nash's  criticisms.  The  learned  dramatists 
of  the  Tmis  of  Com-t  and  the  popular  playwrights  of  a  later 
date  who  borrowed  from  Seneca  seem  to  have  gone  to  the 
Latin  text,  and  their  version  is  often  more  accurate,  as 
well  as  more  elegant,  than  the  rendering  of  the  pro- 
fessed translators.  Of  course  the  dramatists  who  used 
Seneca's  lines  without  acknowledgment  would  not  be 
likely  to  reveal  their  indebtedness  to  the  English  version, 
if  they  could  avoid  it ;  and  there  can  be  little  doubt  that 
the  translation  would  be  extensively  used  in  conjunction 
with  the  original  by  those  who  had  but  "  small  Latin," 
and  w^ere  glad  to  take  advantage  of  what  help  they  could 
get  to  puzzle  out  Seneca's  aphoristic  obscurities  and 
far-fetched  allusions.  The  translation  must  also  have 
had  considerable  effect  in  spreading  a  general  knowledge 
of  Seneca's  form,  style,  and  manner,  the  character  of 
his  subjects,  and  the  leading  ideas  of  his  philosophical 
teaching^  as  contained  in  the  trac^edies. 


^5l."fl'"'  The  trauslation  of  1581  is  further  remarkable  as  the 

only  complete  version  of  Seneca's  tragedies  in  the 
Eno-lish  lanouao-e.  Sir  Edward  Sherburne  in  1701 
published  a  translation  of  the  Medea,  the  Hijjpolytus,  and 
the  Twos,  and  odd  plays  were  printed  by  other  transla- 
tors ;  ^  but  the  issue  of  1581  still  remains  the  first  and 
only  English  translation  of  the  ten  tragedies./ For  many 
years  past,  Seneca  has  been  treated,  at  any  rate  in  England, 


or  Seneca. 


1  In  the  Bodleian  Library  there  is  a  translation  fiom  the  Ihrcuhs 
Oetaeus  by  Queen  Elizabeth. 


"iuropean 
naseence. 


on  EUzahethan  Tragedy,  7 

with  a  contemptuous  neglect  contrasting  strangely  with 

the  high  esteem  in  which  he  was  once  held.     I  suppose 

no  one  nowadays  would  think  of  upholding  the  judgement 

of  Scaliger:     "  Senecam  nullo   Graecorum  male  tatemf 

inferiorem  existinio,  cultu  vero  ac  nitore,  etiam  Euripide 

niaiorem."     Few  critics  would  pin  their  faith  even  to  the 

more  moderate  claim  of  Muretus  :    ''Est  profecto  poeta 

ille  praeclarior  et  uetusti  sermonis  diligentior  quam  quidam 

inepte  fastidiosi  suspicantur."     But  altogether  apart  from 

his  intrinsic  merits,  Seneca  held  such  a  prominent  place  senega  and  the 

European  Jic- 

in  the  Eevival  of  Learning  in  Europe,  and  exercised  such 
a  great  influence  on  the  developement  of  the  modern 
drama,  that  the  study  of  his  tragedies  is  of  the  utmost 
importance.  When  Alberto  Mussato  gave  new  life  to  the 
European  drama  at  the  beginning  of  the  fourteenth  cen- 
tury, though  his  subjects  were  taken  from  modern  history, 
his  model,  both  in  style  and  metro,  was  Seneca.  At  a 
later  date  Italian  tragedy,  to  use  the  words  of  Klein, ^ 
"indeed  exchanged  Mussato's  Latin  for  the  vulgar  tongue; 
but  only  td  again  force  this  too  into  the  Senecan  buskin." 
"With  every  subsequent  tragedy  of  the  sixteenth  cen-\ 
tury,"  Klein  says  later,  "  with  every  step  we  fall  deeper 

and  deeper  into  the  savagery of  the  tragedy  of  Seneca."^/ 

The  influence  of  Seneca  runs  through  Italian  tragedy  from 
Mussato  right  down  to  Alfieri ;  and,  to  again  quote  Klein, 
through  Seneca  "Euripidean  tragedy  leavened  the  dra- 
matic poetry  of  every  cultured  nation  in  Europe  through 
all  the  centuries,  while  Aeschylus  and  Sophocles  fed  the 
worms  in  the  libraries."     As  to  the  French  drama,  it  will 

1  Geechichte  des  Dramas,  V.  236, 


[y 


8  The  Inpwice  of  Seneca 

/  be  enough  to  give  the  statement  of  Mr.  G-eorge  Saints- 
bury^  that  Seneca  took  captive  "the  whole  drama  of 
France,  from  Jodelle,  through  Garnier  and  Montchrestien 
and   even   Hardy,   through   Corneille   and    Racine   and 

\Voltaire,  leaving  his  traces  even  on  Victor  Hugo."  The 
"Primeras  Tragedias  Espanoles"  of  Geronymo  Bermudez, 
published  at  Madrid  in  1577,  bear  traces  of  Seneca's  in- 
fluence; and  the  "  Nueva  Idea  de  la  Tragedia  Antigua" 
of  Gonzalez  de  Salas  (Madrid,  1633)  contains  a  transla- 
tion of  the  Troas ;  but  the  main  current  of  the  Spanish 
drama  seems  to  have  been  little 'Effected  by  classical  in- 
fluence. The  German  dramatist  Gryphius  took  Seneca 
as  his  model ;  and  as  early  as  1540-3  the  Scotch  scholar, 
Buchanan,  had  written  in  Seneca's  manner  a  Latin 
tragedy,  Jephthaes,  which,  after  being  acted  by  the  stu- 
dents of  Bordeaux,  was  printed  in  1554,  and  became 
very  popular.  It  is  commended  by  Ascham  in  The 
Scholemaster,  and  by  R.  Wilmott  in  his  preface  to  the 
revised  edition  of  Tancred  and  Gismund  (1592).  Latin 
imitations  of  Seneca,  as  well  as  the  original  plays, 
were  acted  at  the  Universities."^ 

1  In  a  Preliminary  Note  to  Vol.  III.   of  Dr.  Grosart's   Complete 
Wo7-ks  of  Samuel  Daniel. 

2  Knight  mentions  in  a  note  on  Hamlet  that  in  Braun's  Civifates 
(1575)  there  is  a  Latin  memoir  prefixed  to  a  map  of  Cambridge,  record- 
ing that  the  fables  of  Seneca  were  performed  by  the  students  "with 
elegance,  magnificence,  dignity  of  action,  and  propriety  of  voice  and 
countenance."  Gager's  Mehager,  a  Latin  tragedy  in  the  form  of  Seneca 
and  described  by  the  author  as  "  Panuiculus  Hippolyto  Senecae  Tra- 
gaediae  assutus,"  was  acted  at  Christ  Church,  Oxford,  before  Lord 
Leicester,  Sir  Philip  Sidney,  and  others  in  1581,  according  to  Mr. 
Pleay's  Chronicle  of  the  English  Drama,  I.  236.  It  was  printed  at 
Oxford  in  1592,  and  the  author  or  publisher  apparently  fixes  the  date 
of  composition  at  1591. 


on  Elizabethan  Tragedtj, 


Seneca   influenced  English   tragedy  through   both    >;5.f/riS 
ItaUau    and    French    hteratiire.      GascoisQe's    Jocasta 


o 


(1565)  is  an  adaptation  of  the  Pkoenissae  of  Euripides, 
cast  into  the  form  of  Seneca,  and  taken  from  Ludovico 
Dolce,  the  Itahan  translator  of  Seneca,  Kyd,  the  author 
of  The  Spanish  Tragedy,  translated  Garnier's  Cornelia, 
a  close  copy  of  Seneca's  style  (pub.  1594) ;  and 
Garnier's  Antonius  was  done  into  English  by  the  Countess 
of  Pembroke  in  1590  and  printed  in  1592.  But  \yq  need 
not' seek  for  the  influence  of  Seneca  on  the  English 
drama  through  these  indirect  channels.  The  direct 
influence  w«s  of  much  greater  extent  and  importance. 
Seneca  was  held  in  no  less  esteem  in  Endand  than  on 

O 

the  Continent.  Without  going  back  to  Chaucer^  and 
Lydgate,  it  is  worthy  of  note  that  in  the  early  days  of 
the  English  Renascence,  in  Skelton's  Garlaiuh  of  \ 
Laurell  (1523),  "Senek  full  soberly  with  his  tragedies"  i 
is  given  a  place  among  the  most  famous  classical  writers; 
and  there  is  an  interesting  reference  to  the  Octavia  in 
More's  Utopia  (1516).  Ascham  indeed  in  The  Schole-  ^^o^^m- 
master  says  :  ''  Sophocles  and  Euripides  far  ouermatch 
our  Smeca  in  Lutin,  namely  in  okovofXia  et  Decoro, 
although  Senacaes  elocution  and  verse  be  verie  commend- 


i  See  R.  Peiper  Chaucer  und  seine  Vorhilder  im  Alterthum  in 
Jahrhb.  fiir  Class.  Fhilologie  (18G8)  p.  65.  Even  before  Chaucer's  time, 
Nicholas  Trevet  or  Trivet,  an  English  Dominican  friar,  shared  with 
Alberto  Mussato  the  honour  of  revivina  the  study  of  Seneca.  A 
specimen  of  his  annotations  on  the  tragedies  is  given  in  the  preface  to 
the  edition  of  his  Annales  published  by  the  English  Historical  Society, 
and  the  complete  manuscript  is  in  the  British  Museum.  We  might  go 
further  back  still  and  establish  a  connection  between  Seneca  and  the 
Au^lo-Saxon,  Aldhelm. 


10  The  Influence  of  Seiieca 

able  for  his  tyme ;  "  but  the  way  in  which  he  speaks  of 
''  our  Seneca"  seems  to  imply  that  the  Roman  dramatist 
was  far  more  familiar  to  his  readers.  Ascham,  unlike  most 
of  his  contemporaries,  was  "  averie  good  Grecian  " — a  debt 
he  owed  to  the  teaching  of  Sir  John  Cheke,  whose  dictum 
he  quotes  with  approval  that  a  good  student  should 
''  dwell "  in  Cicero  only  of  the'Latin  writers  ;  the  rest  he 
should  "  passe  and  iorney  through."  Ascham  himself 
boldly  asserts  the  superiority  of  Greek  authors  to  those  of 
all  other  nations,  ancient  or  modern.  "Cicero  onelie 
excepted,  and  one  or  two  moe  in  Latin,  they  be  -all 
patched  cloutes  and  ragges,  in  comparison  of  faire  wouen 
broade  cloathes.  And  trewelie,  if  there  be  any  good  in 
them,  it  is  either  lerned,  borowed,  or  stolne,  from  some 
one  of  those  worthie  wittes  of  Athens."  But  it  would  be 
a  mistake  to  suppose  that  this  was  au  opinion  generally 
held ;  we  shall  get  much  nearer  to  the  ordinary  standard 
of  scholarship  and  the  popular  view  of  classical  literature 
webhe.  in  William  Webbe,  a  Cambridge  graduate  and  literary 
critic,  connected  with  our  early  drama  by  an  introductory 
letter  he  supplied  to  the  revised  edition  of  Tancred  arid 
Gismund  (1592).  In  his  Discourse  of  English  Poetrie 
(1586),  Webbe  confesses  that  the  poets  he  is  best  acquain- 
ted with  are  "  not  all  nor  the  moste  part  of  the  auncient 
Grecians,  of  whom  I  know  not  how  many  there  were,  but 
these  of  the  Latinists,  which  are  of  the  greatest  fame 
and  most  obuious  among  vs."  He  thinks  Virgil  at  least 
equal  to  Homer,  and  asks  of  the  Roman  poets  generally 
in  Virgil's  time,  "Wherein  were  they  not  comparable 
with  the  Greekes  ?'    In  his  review  of  the  Latin  poets  he 


on  EUzahcthan  Tragsdy. 


11 


makes  mention  of  Seneca,  "  a  most  excellent  wryter  of 
Tragedies  ;"  and  in  his  list  of  translators  he  has  a  graceful 
reference  to  ''  the  laudable  Authors  of  Seneca  m  English." 
Even  Ascham,  in  another  passage  of  The  Scholemaster,  gives 
Seneca  a  place  alongside  of  Euripides  and  Sophocles  as 
models  of  tragedy — an  example  followed  by  Puttenham  in 
hkArte  of  English  Poesic  (1589).     To  Sidney,  to  Meres,  and  // 
to  Shakspere^  himself,  Seneca  was  the  model  of  classical  | 
tragedy;  and  it  was  "the  famous  Corduban"  that  the/ 
ambitious  tragedians  of  Hall's  Satires  (1597)  strove  to' 
excel.     There  is  every  indication  that  the  kno^Nledo'e  ol  Greek  Tragedy 

little  known. 

Greek  tragedy  was  confined  to  a  very  small  circle  ;  trans- 
lations from  the  Greek  dramatists  were  unknown  in  this 
century,  Gascoigne's  Jocasta  being,  as  has  already  been 
remarked,  an  Italian  adaptation.  The  §rst  genuine  transla- 
tion of  a  Greek  play  was  apparently  the  Electra  of  Christo- 
pher Wase,  printed  at  the  Hague  in  1649  ;  and  it  was  not 
until  more  than  a  century  later  that  there  appeared  the  first 
complete  translation  of  a  Greek  tragic  poet—Erancklin's 
Sophocles  (1759).  All  the  evidence  is  in  favour  of- Dr. 
Campbell's  statement  that  "English  students  of  the 
drama  contented  themselves  with  Seneca."^  The  trans- 
lation of  1581  was  ready  to  hand,  and  in  1623-4  Thomas 
Farnabie  published  an  edition  of  the  original  with  notes,^ 
which  must  have  been  exceedingly  useful.     Seneca  was  a 


\CP 


c^ 


1  Sidney  praises  Gorhoduc  as  "  clyming  to  the  height  of  Seneca 
his  style,"  Shakspere  is  compared  by  Meres  to  Seneca,  and  Polonius 
says  of  the  players  in  Hamlet^  "  Seneca  cannot  bo  too  heavy,  nor 
Plautus  too  light"  for  them. 

2  A  Guide  to  Greek  Tragedy,  p.  309. 

3  Of  this  issue  twenty  editions  were  published.     Munro. 


1'2  The  Influence  oj   Seneca 

^"Mh^or"^ "i  f^'^'o^i'it^  school  author,  and  Professor  T.  S.  Baynes  has 
come  to  the  conckision  that  Shakspere  read  the  tragedies 
at  Stratford  Grammar  School.^  The  afternoon  lessons 
of  tlie  boys  at  Rotherham  School  in  Shaksperc's 
time  were  *'  two  days  in  Horace,  and  two  days  in 
Seneca's  Tragedies;  both  which  they  translated  into 
English."  Hoole,  one  of  the  masters  at  Rotherham 
School,  setting  forth  a  model  curriculum  iu  his  New 
Discovery,  published  in  1659,  but  ^vritten  23  years  before, 
and  well-known  previous  to  publication,  says,  "As  for 
Lucan,  Seneca's  Tragedies,  Martiall,  and  the  rest  of  the 
finest  Latin  poets,  you  may  do  well  to  give  them  a  taste 
of  each,  and  show  them  how  and  wherein  they  may 

imitated   and  imitate  tlicm,  and  borrow  something  out  of  them."     This 

borrowed  from.  '  *^ 

"  imitation  "  and  "borrowing  "  was  a  lesson  well  learnt 
by  the  dramatists,  as  I  shall  have  occasion  to  show 
hereafter.  Enough  has  already  been  said  to  show  the 
esteem  in  which  Seneca  was  held  by  the  Elizabethans, 
and  if  his  connection  with  the  drama  be  deemed  to  be  as 
yet  insufficiently  established,  proof  may  easily  be  found 
L  in  the  Latin  quotations  from  Seneca  embodied  in  the 

text  of  many  Elizabethan  tragedies.^  The  fact  of  Seneca's 
influence  upon  the  English  drama  being  thus  proved, 
we  may  proceed  to  examine  the  general  character  of  this 
influence  before  w^e  inquire  into  its  exact  extent. 


^  See    What   Shakes2)eai'e    learnt  at  School  in  Fraeers   Magazine 
for  November,  1879. 
2  See  Appendix  I. 


on  EUzahethan  Tragcdif,  13 

lu  any  attempt  to  estimate  the  position  of  Seneca ^'^'Xl!*/*'"''''' 
in  the  developement  of  the  modern  drama,  ^\e  nre  met 
at  the  outset  by  controversies  which  offer  inviting  fields 
for  discussion.  Who  vv-as  the  Seneca  to  whom  the 
trasjedies  are  ascribed  ?  How  many  of  them  are 
genuinely  his  ?  "Who  wrote  those  that  are  wrongly 
ascribed  to  him  ?  Were  the  tragedies  intended  for  repre- 
sentation on  the  stage,  or  are  they  to  be  regarded  as  mere 
rhetorical  exercises,  meant  only  for  private  recitation  ? 
These  are  questions  which  have  agitated  the  minds  of 
critics  and  scholars  for  nearlv  three  hundred  years,  but 
it  would  be  a  mistake  to  pay  attention  to  them  when 
treating  Seneca  from  the  point  of  view  of  the  Elizabethan 
drama.  The  authors  of  the  translation  of  1581  were 
troubled  by  no  critical  doubts  or  difficulties ;  they  had 
no  idea  that  the  very  title  of  their  volume,  "  Seneca  his 
Tennc  Tragedies,"  was  open  to  objection.  In  his  dedica- 
tory letter  Newton  unhesitatingly  identifies  the  author  of 
the  tragedies  with  Seneca  the  philosopher ;  he  is  evi- 
dently entirely  ignorant  of  any  suggestion  that  the  Thehais 
is  simply  a  patchwork  of  two  fragments ;  and  he  and  his 
fellow  translators  are  equally  blind  to  the  fact  that  the 
Octavia  for  chronological  reasons,  and  the  Hercules  Oetaevs 
for  critical  reasons  cannot  be  accepted  as  the  work  of 
Seneca.  Nevyle  takes  it  for  granted  that  the  Oedijms  was 
originally  intended  for  "  tragicall  and  Pompous  showe  . 
upon  Stage,"  and  the  confidence  with  which  Jasper  Heyy 
wood  dubs  Seneca  "the  flowre  of  all  writers"  is  almost 
amusing  in  view  of  the  depth  of  disrepute  to  which  the 
tragedies  have  fallen  since.    I  have  thought  it  best  in  this 


14  The  Influence  of  Seneca 

^%Hnt'o/'i^iw.'  essay  to  take  the  tragedies  as  far  as  possible  from  the 

Elizabethan  point  of  view.     From  this  point  of  view  it  is 

correct  to  speak  of  the  author  of  the  tragedies  simply 

as      Seneca,     witliout     any    cumbrous    quahfications ; 

,  and    I    shall    call    the   tragedies  by  the  names   given 

/  to  them    by   the    Elizabethans,    tliough    no   doubt   it 

would,  be   more   correct   to   treat  the  Thehais   as  made 

up   of     a     fragmentary    Oedipm     and     a    fragmentary 

Phoenlsae.      The  text   quoted  is  the  Aldine  of  Avantius 

(1517),  which  has  been  the  foundation  of  most  subsequent 

editions.     Peiper  and  Eichter  say  in  their  preface,   "  Si 

universum  spectamus,  nullum  librum  uel  manu  scriptum 

uel  inpressum  fatendum  est  tarn  props  ad  genuinam  re- 

eensionis  uolgaris  condicionem  accedere  quam  Aldinam." 

As  I  was  not  in  a  position  to  see  a  copy  of  the  Aldine 

edition,  I  have  restored   the  readings  of  Avantius  in  the 

text  of  Peiper  and  Richter  published  in   1867,  and  the 

figures  refer  to  the  numbering  of  the  lines  in  that  edition . 


f  "wwi^n,  It  would  be  easy  to  convict  Seneca  of  many  and  very 

serious  shortcomings;  it  would  not  be  difficult  to  prove 
that  by  the  side  of  obvious  defects  he  possesses  some  ex- 
cellences. Klein  praises  the  scene  between  Andromache 
and  Ulysses  in  the  Troas  as  unsm-passed  even  by  Shakspere; 
a.nd  Dryden  says  of  the  same  passage  that  it  *'  bears  the 
nearest  resemblance  of  anything  in  the  tragedies  of  the 
ancients  to  the  excellent  scenes  of  passion  in  Shakespeare 
or  in  Fletcher."  Leaving  aside  all  question  of  intrinsic 
merit,  this  is  the  first  quality  I  wish  to  claim  for  Seneca 


071  EUzahethan  Tragedy.  15 

— that  he  is  the  most  modern  of  the  ancients  ;  in  the  /j^ 
words  of  KJein,  he  "  stands  nearer  to  Shakspeare  and 
Calderon  than  to  Em-ipides."  Even  if  Greek  tragedy  had 
stood  within  as  easy  reach  of  the  Elizabethans  as  Seneca, 
it  may  be  doubted  whether  they  would  have  been 
able  to  assimilate  it ;  its  perfectness  would  .not  make 
it  any  easier  to  imitate,  and  it  was  as  far  removed 
from  modern  ideas  in  spirit  as  in  form.  The  whole  of  .- 
Greek  tragedy  is  thoroughly  Athenian  in  spirit,  its  con- 
ceptions are  all  of  the  aucient  Greek  world,  and  its  form, 
its  very  conventions  were  vitally  affected  by-  the  circum- 
stances that  had  given  it  birth  and  assisted  in  its  develope-  y 
ment.  Seneca  is  nearer  to  the  moderns  in  spirit  than  in  V 
time.  In  his  case  the  local  conditions  which  moulded 
Greek  tragedy  were  absent.  His  stoicism,  his  personal 
circumstances,_and  the  spirit ^of~Eis  time  all^helpedno 
mak^him  cosmopolitan.  "The  age  of  Nero"  (I  quote ^- <^'''""''^'*'"'"''' 
from  ray  notes  of  a  lecture  by  Dr.  Ward)  "may  be  re- 
garded as  the  climax  of  a  cosmopolitan  tendency  in  litera- 
ture, which  began  under  the  Ikpublic  itself,  and  was  no 
longer  satisfied  with  what  appealed  only  to  Roman  senti- 
ment. There  was  no  national  life  at  Rome  in  the  time 
of  Nero,  hardly  a  national  literature,  no  national  drama." 
Seneca  is  peculiarly  free  from  local  restrictions,  and  to 
this  we  may^erEaps  ascribe  the  fact  that  Elizabethan 
tragedy,  though  thrilled  through  and  through  with 
patriotism,  deafs  with  men  and  ideas  of  universalinteiest. 
SnaFspere  glorified  some  of  his  plays  with  a^^impassioned 
spirit  of  healthy  patriotism,  but  of  his  masterpieces  it  is  pe- 
culiarly true  that  they  are  "not  of  an  age,  but  for  all  time,"^; 

-|5>A^  "^t- 


16  The  Tnfliience  of  Seneca 

s.  inu-ospectiof.,  j^^  aiiotlier  way  Seneca  stands  nearer  to  the  modern 
drama  than  to  Greek  tragedy.  "Ancient  tra<]fecly" 
says  Dr.  Campbell  ^  "  is  stamped  with  a  degree  of 
objectivity  and  outwardness  which,  on  the  whole,  differ- 
entiates its  creations  from  those  of  the  modern  drama, 
steeped  as  this  so  often  is  with  the  introspectiveness  or 
self-reflectiveness  that  pervades  the  modern  world." 
We  note  the  beginning  of  the  change  in  Euripides ;  but 
in  Seneca  it  is  very  plainly  marked.  The  scene  is  no 
longer  in  the  open  air,  but  within  doors.  The  plots  of 
Atreus  and  their  bloody  execution,  the  guilty  suit  of 
Phaedra,  and  the  machinations  of  Deianira  and  Medea 
could  not  take  place  before  a  temple  or  in  the  courtyard 
of  a  palace.  Seneca's  arrangement  of  the  plot  in  all 
these  cases  ii^plies  secresy  ^nd  concealment ;  and 
introspecti/eness  follows  as_a_mat[er_of  course  upon  his 
mode  of  treatment^  Sir  Walter  Scott  says  in  his  preface 
to  Dryden's  Oedipus  t  "  Though  devoid  of  dramatic  effect, 
of  fancy,  and  of  genius,  the  Oedipus  of  Seneca  displays 
the  masculine  eloquence  and  high  moral  sentiment  of 
its  author;  and  if  it  does  not  interest  us  in  the  sjene  of 
fiction,  it  often  compels  us  to  turn  our  thoughts  inward, 
and  to  study  our  own  hearts."  The  remark  is  equally 
true  of  the  other  plays.  In  the  Thyestes  Atreus  jsjntro- 
duced  brooding_Qve^-'  his  own  supineness  in  niit_s^king 
_reyenge,;  and  when  Thyestes  enters,  he  is  lost  in  reflec- 
tion on  the  subject  of  his  own  doubts  and  fears.  Oedipus 
and  Jocasta  in  the  Thebais  are  the  subjects  of  the  same 
morbid  self-analysis.  The  thoughts  of  Phaedra  in  love, 
1  A  Guide  to  Greek  Tragedy,  p.  38, 


•4..- 


on  FAizahetlmn  Tragedy. 


17 


of  Medea  in  hatred,  of  Deianira  in  jealousy  revolve  round 
one  centre — themselves.  In  the  Agamemnon  Ciytemnestra 
shows  the  same  tendency  to  soliloquy  and  self-examina- 
tion, her  first  words  heing 

quid  segnis  anime  tuta  consilia  expetis  ? 
quid  fluctuaris  ? 

We  shall  find  nothing  in  Greek  tragedy  so  near  as  this 
*_to  the   scruples   of    Macbeth  and  the  self-analysis    of^ 
Hamlet. 


/ 


V 


Seneca's   introspectiveuess   is   chiefly  due    to   the  -i.  sensatwna: 


character  of  his  themes  and  his  mode  of  dealinf;  with 
them.)  The^ sensationalism  wdnch  Aristotle  and  Aristo- 
phanes remark  in  Euripides  is, still  more  marked  in 
Seneca.  His  subjects  are  indeed  taken  from  Greek 
tragedy,  but  they  are  the  most  sensational  he  could 
choose — the  horrid  banquet  of  Thyestes,  the  murder  of 
Agamemnon  by  his  faithless  wife  and  her  paramour,  the 
guilty  love  of  Phaedra,  the  execution  of  Astyanax  and 
Polyxena,  the  revenge  of  Medea,  the  slaughter  of  Megara 
and  her  children,  the  fatal  jealousy  of  Deianira,  the 
incest  and  parricide  of  Oedipus  Cand  the  unnatural  strife 
of  his  sons.)  In  the  Octavla,  the  only  tragedy  whose 
subject  is  not  taken  from  Greek  mythology,  the  theme  is 
still  of  lust  and  blood.  Perhaps  the  example  of  Seneca 
was  hardly  needed  to  direct  Elizabethan  tragedy  into  the 
same  channel.  Those  were  stirring  and  licentious  times, 
and  the  nation  which  kept  Spain  anl  the  Inquisition  at 
bay  abroad  had  memories  at  home  of  the  lustfulness  of 

/ 


f 


ikfi  j^'<"i 


/-       18  The  Influence  of  Seneca 

Henry,  the  cruelty  of  Mary,  and  tlie  intrigues  of  Elizabeth. 
The  moral  atmosphere  of  the  court  did  not  improve  in 
the  following  reign,  and  it  was  no  wonder  that  English 
dramatists  continued  to  treat  of  lawless  love  and 
prodigious  crimes ;  by  this  time  the  example  of  Seneca 
had  been  re-inforced  by  the  influence  of  the  Italian  and 
the  Spanish  drama,  in  which  the  same  leaven  had  been 
at  work. 


5,  Rhetoncji,  Scncca  goes  to  no  trouble  to  make  his  sensational 

themes  dramatically  effective  by  clever  construction  of 
plot  and  careful  developement  of  character.  He  contents 
himself  with  amplifying  tlie  horror  of  the  tragic  situa- 
tions till  they  become  disgusting,  and  exaggerating  the 
expression  of  passion  till  it  becomes  ridiculous.  In 
Hercules  Furens  1291-1301  we  have  an  example  of  the 
style  to  which  Nick  Bottom  gave  the  immortal  title  of 
<'  Ercles'  vein  ''  ';— 

arma  nisi  deiitur  mihi, 
aut  omne  Pindi  thracis  excidam  nemus 
Bacchique  lucos  et  Cithaeronis  iuga 
mecum  cremabo.     tota  cum  domibus  suis 
domiiiisque  tecta,  cum  deis  terapla  omnibus 
thebana  supra  corpus  excipiam  meura 
atque  urbe  uersa  condar  et  si  fortibus 
leue  pondus  umeiis  mocnia  inmissa  excident 
septemque  opertus  non  satis  portis  premar,  • 
onus  omne  media  parte  qua  muudus  sedet 
dirimitque  superos  in  meum  uertam  caput. 


1  In  Lingua,  a  play  acted  at  one  of  the  Universities  in  the  reign 
of  Elizabeth,  Tactus  "cannot  be  otherwise  persuaded  but  he  is 
Hercules  Furens," a,nd  beats  Appetitus,Avho  sets  himself  to  "  outswa;»ger 
him," 


on  Mlzahcthan  Tragedy.  1^ 

This  rhetorical  exaggercation  is  hest  known  to  us  in 
the  school  of  English  tragedy  headed  by  Tamhudaine  ; 
br.t  wc  shall  fin(^  that  in  the  later  Elizabethans  it  is  not 
absent.  \  Shakspere  uses  it  not  infrequently,  but  always 
in  a  white  heat  of  passion  that  goes  far  towards  making 
hyperbole  pardonable.  There  is  a  notable  example  in 
the  grave  scene  in  Hamlet  fV.  1  ad  Jin.) ;  and  Muuro^ 
compares  Thijestes  289-292  :— 

regna  nunc  sperat  mea. 
hac  spe  minanti  fulmen  occurret  Tovi, 
hac  spe  subibit  gurgitis  tumidi  minas 
dubiumque  libycae  Syrtis  intrabit  fretum, 

with  the  words  of  Hotspur  in  1  Henry  IV,  I.  3 : — • 

By  heaven,  methinks  it  were  an  easy  leap, 

To  pluck  bright  honour  from  the  pale-facod  moon, 

Or  dive  mto  the  bottom  of  the  deep 

We  have  other  examples  in  the  speech  of  Juliet^ 
IV.  1  :— 

0,  bid  mo  leap,  rather  than  marry  Paris, 

From  off  the  battlements  of  yonder  tower 

and  in  The  Merchant  of  Venice,  IV.  1 ; — 

You  may  as  well  go  stand  upon  the  beach. 

And  bid  the  main  flood  bate  his  usual  height 

Seneca  was  much  given  to  these  exaggerated  comj2ari-_ 
sons^  See  Hercules  Farens  376-382  ;  Thyestes  476  482 ) 
Hippo! jilifi  57 (j-5Sl;  Octavia  227-231;  Hercules  Oetaeus 
338-341  and  1586-1590. 

F  -I..  .        ■  ■  .  ■'■■  ■  —  ■'  ■  -    -  .         1  ■ 

1  Journal  of  Philology,  VI.  77. 


20  The  Infiience  of  Senecd 

c.  Descriptive,  Witliout  legiilar  dramatic  developement  by  action 

and  character,  the  tragedies  of  Seneca  are  filled  up  with 
elaborate  descriptions,  sententious  dialogues,  and  reflec- 
^^^^  tive  diatribes.  Of  Seneca's  descriptive  passages  little 
need  be  said  ;  they  are  the  forerunners  of  similar  efforts 
by  the  Elizabethan  dramatists,  who  excel-  Seneca  as  much 
in  descriptive  power  as  they  show  moderation  in  the  use 
of  it ;  particular  resemblances  whl  be  pointed  out  here- 
after. So  far  as  space  goes,  narrative  plays  a  great  part 
in  Seneca's  tragedies  ;  but  much  of  it  is  mere  padding  ; 

7.  Refi'xtive.  far  morc  characteristic  of  Seneca  are  the  reflective  pas- 
sages, and  the  dialogue,  which  is  highly  finished  in  form 
and   often  heavily  weiglited  with  philosophic  thought. 

stichomythia.  Stichomythia  i^  very  common  in  Seneca's  tragedies,  and 
sometimes  every  line  is  a  moral  maxim  or  a  commonplace 
of  philosophy.  English  playwrights  very  soon  began  to 
imitate  Seneca's  briUiant  performances  in  this  respect, 
and  it  is  interesting  to  mark  the  steps  of  their  progress. 
//  Gorhoduc  (1561)  yielda  us  no  example,  but  we  have 
already  an  attempt,  though  not  a  very  successful  one,  in 
Damon  and  Fythias  (printed  in  1571,  and  probably  acted 
and  pubHshed  a  few  years  before;  it  was  licensed  in  1567) 
e.g.  Hazlitt's  Dodsley,  IV.  p.  56  : — 

Dion.     Take  heed  for  [your]  life  :    wordly  men  break  promise  in 
many  things. 

PiTn.     Though  wordly  men  do  so,  it  never  haps  amongst  friends. 

Dion.     What  callest  thou  friends?     are  they  not  men,    is  not 
this  true  ? 

Pith.     Men  they  be,  but  such  men  as  love  one  another  only  for 
virtue. 

Dion.     For  what  virtue  dost  thou  love  this  spy,  this  Damon  ? 

Pith.     For  that  virtue  which  yet  to  you  is  unknown. 


on  Elizabethan  Tragedih  21 


/ 


The  Misfortunes  of  Arthur  (1587-8)  and  the  revised 
version  of  Tancred  and  Gismiind  (pub.  1592)  show  a  con- 
siderable advance,  both  in  quahty  and  quantity,  many  of 
the  Hnes  being  borrowed  directly  from  Seneca.  In  The 
Spanish  Tragedy  we  have  fairly  finished  stichomythia  with  / 
greater  originality.  Marlowe's  dialogue  is  not  particu-  / 
laiiy  striking,  but  Peele's  Edtvard  I  gives  us  a  remark- 
able example.     Mr.  Bullen's  edition,  Scene  XXL: — 

LoNGSH.     Why  what  remains  for  Baliol  now  to  give  ? 
Baliol.     Allegiance,  as  becomes  a  royal  king. 
LoNGSH.     What  league  of  faith  where  league  is  broken  once  1 
Baliol.     The  greater  hope  in  them  that  once  have  fall'n. 
LoNGSH.     But  foolish  are  those  monarchs  that  do  yield 
A  conquered  realm  upon  submissive  vows. 

Shakspere  has  many  such  passages,^  of  which  it 
will  be  enough  to  quote  one,  and  that  a  short  one.  21ie 
Merchant  of  Venice,  IV.  1  : — 

.   Bass.  This  no  answer,  thou  unfeeling  man, 
To  excuse  the  current  of  thy  cruelty. 

Shy.  I  am  not  bound  to  please  thee  with  my  answer. 

Bass.  Do  all  men  kill  the  things  they  do  not  love  ? 

Shy.  Hates  any  man  the  thing  he  would  not  kill  ? 

Bass.  Every  offence  is  not  a  hate  at  first. 

Shy.  What,  wouldst  thou  have  a  serpent  sting  thee  twice  ? 


Seneca  is  not  content  with  elaborating  brilliant  dia- 
logue in  alternate  lines ;  he  balances  half,  third,  and 
quarter  lines.     Thus  in  the  Medea,  168-173  :— 

1  See    Ricliard   III,  passim,   especially   IV.  4 ;     1  Henri/    VI, 
TV.  5 ;  and  3  Ilennj  VI,  III.  2. 


ii 


The  Infiuence  of  Seneca 


NvTR.     rex  est  timendus. 

Med.  rex  raeus  fuerat  pater. 

NvTR.     non  naetuls  arma  ? 

Med,  sint  licet  terra  edita. 

NvTii.     moriere. 

Med.  cupio. 

NvTR.  profuge. 

Med,  paenituit  fugae. 

Medea  f  ugiam  1 
NvTR.  mater  es, 

Med.  cui  slin  uides. 

NvTR.     profugere  dubitas  1 

Med.  f ugiam,  at  ulciscar  prius. 

NvTR.     uindex  sequctur. 
Med.  forsan  inueniam  moras. 


1/ 


y 


Seneea'*  Phil{ 
sophy. 


Hiiglies  makes  obvious  efforts  to  imitate  this  trick  of 
style  in  The  Misfortunes  of  Arthur.  (See  Hazlitt's  Dodsley, 
ly.  268,  277,  283,  284,  286,  303.)  We  have  less  elabo- 
rate but  more  successful  attempts  in  Tancred  and  Gismund 
(Hazlitt's  Dodsley,  VII.  70,  73,  88,  92,)  In  the_o£ening 
scenes  of  Hamlet  Shakspere  has  used  a  like  brevity  with. 
B,  very  differeiiLeffect.  The  appearance  of  artificiality  is 
-'  removed  by  occasional  irregularity,  which  has  the  sem- 
blance of  carelessness,  but  is  really  the  outcome  of  the 
highest  art ;  and  to  the  majesty  of  verse, is  added  the 
naturalness  of  ordinary  conversation. 

/  Seneca's  reflective  passages  are  by  no  means  con- 
fined to  dialogue.  Long  speeches  give  him  opportunity 
for  ^rhetorical  expansion,  and  the  Chorus  occasionally 
developes  a  philosophic  theme.    For  the  most  part  the 


on  EUzahethan  Tragedy.  23 

subjects  of  reflection  are  familiar  commonplaces' — the 
cares  of  empire,  the  fickleness  of  fortune,  the  uncertainty 
of  popular  favour,  the  cruelty  of  war,  the  falsehood  of 
fame,  the  impetuosity  of  youth,  the  modesty  of  maiden- 
hood, the  evil  consequences  of  luxury,  the  fatal  gift  of 
beauty,  the  dangers  of  high  j)laces  and  the  safety  of 
humility,  the  joys  of  a  country  life  and  the  advantages  of 
poverty.  Similar  reflections  are  frequent  in  tlie  Eliza- 
bethan dramatists,  and  I  shall  point  out  many  instances 
in  which  Seneca's  form  of  expression  is  reproduced  with 
more  or  less  exactness./  Shakspere  deals  freely  in  this 
small  coin  of' philosophy,  but  he  generally  issues  it  new  ^pf^oi-isms, 
from  his  own  mint.     Aline  in  Cymheline,  IV. 3  : — ■ 

Some  falls  are  means  the  happier  to  arise 

suggests  a  comparison  with  Troas  8§6-7  : — ■ 

hie  forsitan  te  casus  excelso  magis 
solio  reponet. 

But  this  may  be  merely  a  coincidence ;  and  the  same 
remark  applies  to  most  Shaksperean  parallels  with  Seneca, 
as  we  shall  see  later  on.     So  in  Julius  Caesar,  I.  3  : — ■ 

Nop  stony  tower,  nor  walls  of  beaten  brass, 
Nor  airless  dungeon,  nor  strong  links  of  iron, 
Can  be  retentivie  to  the  strength  of  spirit ; 
But  life,  being  weary  of  these  worldly  bars, 
.^  Never  lacks  power  to  dismiss  itself. 

mehais  151-3  :— 

ubique  mors  est.     optume  hoc  cauit  deus. 

eripere  uitain  nemo  non  homini  potest, 

3,t  nemo  mortem  ;  mille  ad  hJ^nc  aditus  patent. 


.  24  The  Influence  of  Seneca 

We  have  an  unacknowledged  translation  in  The  Misfor- 
tunes of  ArtJiur,  I,  3  : — - 

Each-where  is  death  !  the  fates  have  well  ordain'd, 
That  each  man  may  bereave  himself  of  life, 
But  none  of  death  :  death  is  so  sure  a  doom, 
A  thousand  ways  do  guide  us  to  our  graves. 

Marston  also  keeps  closer  to  Seneca's  form.  1  Anto- 
nio and  MeUida,  III.  2  : — 

Each  man  take[sj  hence  life,  but  no  man  death  : 
He's  a  good  fellow,  and  keeps  open  house  : 
A  thousand  thousand  ways  lead  to  his  gate, 
To  his  wide-mouthed  porch,  when  niggard  life 
Hath  but  one  little,  little  wicket  through. 

Beaumont  and  Fletcher  tell  us  that  to  death  "  a 
thousand  doors  are  open."  Massinger  says  in  The  Buke 
of  Milan,  I.  3  :— 

There  are  so  many  ways  to  let  out  life. 

and  Shirley,  in  Love's  Cruelt]),  V.  1:  — 

A  thousand  ways  there  are  to  let  out  life. 

It  is  curious  how  some  of  Seneca's  aphorisms  do  duty 
again  and  again  in  the  Elizabethan  drama  with  but  slight 
changes  of  form.    Seneca  had  written  in  the  Agamemnon: — 

per  scelera  semper  sceleribus  tutum  est  iter. 

This  is  translated  by  Studley  : — 

The  safest  path  to  mischiefe  is  by  mischiefe  open  still. 


on  Elizabethan  Tragedy,  25 

Thomas  Hughes  has  it  in  Tlic  Misfortunes  of  Arthur, 
1.4:— 

The  safest  passage  is  from  bad  to  worse. 
Marston  in  The  Malcontent,  V.  2  : — 

Black  deed  only  through  black  deed  saff^ly  flies. 

Shakspere  in  Macbeth,  III.  2  : —  J^ 

Things  bad  begun  make  strong  themselves  by  ill  / 

Jonson  in  Catiline,  I.  2 : — 

The  ills  that  I  have  done  cannot  be  safe 
But  by  attempting  greater. 

AVebster  in  The  IT  hite  Devil,  II.  1  :— 

Small  mischiefs  are  by  greater  made  secure. 

Lastly,  in  Massinger's  Duke  of  Milan,  11. 1  Francisco 

says 

All  my  plots  .  ^, 

Turn  back  upon  myself ;  but  I  am  in, 

And  must  go  on  :  and,  since  I  have  put  off 

From  the  shore  of  innocence,  guilt  be  now  my  pilot ! 

Revenge  first  wrouglit  me  ;  murder's  his  twin  brother  : 

One  deadly  sin,  then,  help  to  cure  another! 

In  addition  to  a  large  stock  of  brilliant  common- 
places, there  is  in  the  tragedies  a  considerable  body  of 
thought  which  is  part  of  Seneca's  philosophic  faith. 
The  leading  doctrine  is  that  of  fatalism — not  the  fatalism  FataUm. 
of  Aeschylus,  which  is  one  with  the  will  of  the  gods,  and 
makes  for  righteousness,^   but  the    absolute,   hopeless        __J 

1  See  Supplices  (Paley)  1031-4  and  Prometheus  526-7, ;  also  an 
article  on  "  Aeschylus  as  a  Religious  Teacher"  in  the  Contemj)orary 
Review  for  1866,  by  Mr.  (now  Bishop)  Brooke  Foss  Westcott,  re- 
published in  his  v^Jcent  Essays  in  the  History  of  Religio'as  Thought  in 
the  West, 


■A/>.YV^  ^  \ 


26 


The  Influence  of  Seneca 


/ 


fatalism  of  tbe  Stoic  school,  which  includes  the  gods 
themselves  iu  its  universal  swa}'. 

omnia  certo  tramite  uadunt 

primusque  dies  dedit  extremum. 

noa  ilia  deo  uertisse  licet 

quae  nexa  suis  currunt  causis.      (Oedijms  1008-1011.) 

/T  ^^s  Nisard  points  out/  the  Jatalism  of  Greek  tragedy 
Is  religious ;  that  of  Seneca  is  philosophic.  In  spite  of 
his  frequent  use  of  the  traditional  mythology,   Seneca_is^ 

hned  to  be  sceptical.  On  returning  to  his  native  lan( 
Thyestes  addresses  his  ancestral  gods  with  the  doubts 
ful  addition,  ''  si  sunt  tamen  di."  In  spite  of  the  ghosts 
in  the  Troas,  the  Chorus  treat  existence  after  death  as  an 
open  question,  and  finally  come  to  the  conclusi'm 

Taenara  et  aspero 
regnum  sub  domino  limen  et  obsidens 
custos  non  facili  Cerberus  ostio 
rumores  uacui  uerbaque  inania 
et  par  sollicito  fabula  somnio.         (413-17.) 

Even  where  Seneca  accepts  the  traditional  mythology, 
he  attributes  to  the  gods  that  envy  of  human  pre-eminence 
which  Aeschylus  disowned.^  Seneca  has  no  faith  in  the 
righteous  government  of  the  world.  The  Chorus  in  the 
Hippolytus  sing  . 

res  humanas  ordine  nullo 

fortuna  regit,  spargitque  manu 

munera  caeca,  peiora  fouens. 

uincit  sanctos  dira  libido, 

fraus  sublimi  regnat  in  aula.  (986-90.) 

1  In  Etudes  sur  l»s  Poetes  Latins  de  la  Decadence. 

"'  Cf.  Hippolytus  1132-1152  with  Aeschylus  Agamemnon  727-737. 


>. 


on  Etizahethan  Tragedy. 


27 


/  Mr.  Swinburne,  in  an  tarticle  on  Webster  in  the 
''Siiutecnth  Centmi/  for  June,  1886,  says,  "Aeschylus  is 
above  all  things  the  poet  of  righteousness.  *  But  in  any 
"wis^e,  I  say  unto  thee,  revere  thou  the  altar  of  righteous- 
ness :  '  this  is  the  crowning  admonition  of  his  doctrine, 
as  its  crowning  prospect  is  the  reconciliation  or  atone- 
ment of  the  principle  of  retribution  with  the  principle  of 
redemption,  of  the  powers  of  the  mystery  of  darkness  / 
with  the  CO -eternal  forces  of  the  spirit  of  wisdom,  of 
the  lord  of  inspiration  and  of  light.  The  doctrine  of 
Shakespeare,  where  it  is  not  vaguer,  is  darker  in  ils 
implication  of  injustice,  in  its  acceptance  of  accident, 
than  the  impression  of  the  doctrine  of  Aeschylus.  Fate, 
irreversible  and  inscrutable,  is  the  only  force  of  which 
we  feel  the  impact,  of  which  we  trace  the  sign,  in  the 
upshot  of  OtheUo  or  King  Lear.  The  last  step  into  the 
darkness  remained  to  be  taken  by  '  the  most  tragic  '  of 
all  English  poets.  With  Shakespeare — and  assuredly 
not  with  Aeschylus — righteousness  itself  seems  subject 
and  subordinate  to  the  masterdom  of  fate :  but  fate  itself, 
in  the  tragic  wor'd  of  Webster,  seems  merely  the  servant 
or  the  synonym  of  chance."  Seneca's  fatalism  is  not 
peculiar  to  Webster,  though  l^e  perhaps  carried  it  farther! 
than  any  of  his  contemporaries.  Fatalism  of  a  more  or 
less  pronounced  character  runs  through  Elizabethan 
tragedy  from  the  very  beginning.  When  Heywood  added 
to  the  Troas  (pub.  1559)  a  Chorus  of  his  own  composition, 
though  moulded  on  Seneca's  style,  this  was  one  of  the 
doctrines  he  chose  for  presentation.     FoUo  101 : — ^ 

They  sit  aboue,  that  holde  our  life  in  line, 
Aud  what  we  suffer  dowue  they  fling  from  hie, 


y 


u^.' 


/ 


X 


29  The  Influence  of  Seneca 

No  carke,  no  care,  that  euer  may  vntwine 
The  thrids,  that  wouen  are  aboue  the  skie. 

We  have  tlie  same  note  struck  in  Gorhuduc  and  The 
Misfortunes  of  Arthur,  the  latter  simply  translating  the 
lines  from  the  Oedipus  quoted  ahove  : — 

All  things  are  rul'd  in  constant  course  :  no  fate 
^  But  is  foreset :  the  first  day  leads  the  last. 

In  Tancred  and  Gismitnd  ^ve  have  : — 

His  doom  of  death  was  dated  by  Jjis  stars, 
And  who  is  he  that  may  withstand  his  fate  ? 

As    to    Shakspere    and     the    later     Elizabethans, 
abundant  evidence  will  be  given  hereafter. 


siokim.  With   Seneca's  fatalism  is  closely    connected  his 

Stoical  indifference  to  the   accidents   of  life.      Thyestes 
615-18:— 

nemo  confidat  nimium  secundis, 
nemo  desperet  meliora  lapsis  : 
miscet  haec  illis  prohibetque  Clotho 
stare  fortunam,  rotat  omne  fatum. 


In  its  full  extent  Seneca's  Stoicism  went  further  than 
this,  and  taught  absolute  independence  of  circumstances. 
This  is  effectively  expressed  by  Medea,  when,  hopeless 
and  friendless  in  a  hostile  land,  she  defies  despair,  ex- 
claiming, "Medea  superest" 

fortuna  opes  auferre  non  animum  potest. 


on  Elizahethan  Tragedy.  29 

Ampliitryon  expresses  the  same  idea  in  Hercules 
Fiirens  468 : — 

quemcumque  fortem  uideris,  miserum  neges. 

A  full  exposition  of  Stoical  teaching  on  this  point  is 
given  hy  the  Chorus  in  the  Thijestes  (344-403),  from  which 
I  will  quote  one  short  extract — 

rex  est  qui  metuet  nihil 
rex  est  qui  cupiet  nihil, 
mens  regnuru  bona  possidet 
hoc  regnum  sibi  quisque  dax-.^ 

Along  with  this  indifference  to  the  accidents  of  Hie  c<mt«^«^t/or 
comes  contempt  for  the  final  accident  of  death,  as  we  note 
in  the  same  Chorus : — 

rex  est  qui  posuit  metus 
et  diri  mala  pectoris, 

•   ••  •4*  ••• 

qui  tuto  positus  loco 
infra  se  uidet  omnia 
occurritque  suo  libens 
fato  nee  queritur  toori. 

The  spirit  of  the  last  lines  is  breathed  by  all  Seneca's 
characters ;  all  show  the  same  inyincible  resolution  in 
face  of  death.  Phaedra,  Deianira,  and  Jocasta  fall  by 
their  own  hands  ;  Astyanax  and  Polyxena  meet  death  not  ^^/^^X<X^ 
only  bravely,  but  eagerly ;  Octavia,  Cassandra,  Electra, 
and  Antigone  show  the  same  masculine  constancy ;  death 


1  This  is  Peiper  and  Richter's  reading,  their  arrangement  of  the 
lines  being  preferable  to  that  of  the  Aldine  text. 


/ 


30  The  Injiuence  of  Seneca 

is  the  refuge  desired  by  Oedipus  and  Hercules  in  shame, 
by  Theseus  and  Thyestes  in  calamity  ;  even  Jason  and 
Aegisthus,  in  all  else  cowards  confessed,  show  a  readiness 
for  death  equal  to  that  of  the  bravest  and  best.  We  find 
^.^^his  contempt  for  death  again  and  again  in  the  Eliza- 
bethan drama,  and  in  the  villains  as  well  as  in  the  heroes. 
We  find  it,  too,  often  associated,  as  in  Seneca,  wifli 
fatalism.  Thus  Young  Mortimer  in  Marlowe's  Edward  II, 
Y.  6,  when  sentence  of  death  is  pronounced  upon  him  for 
treason,  adultery,  and  murder,  says  : — 

Base  Fortune,  now  I  see,  that  in  thy  wheel 
Tiiere  is  a  point,  to  which  when  men  aspire, 
They  tumble  headlong  down :  that  point  I  touched, 
And,  seeing  there  was  no  place  to  mount  up  higher. 
Why  should  I  grieve  at  my  declining  fall  1 — 
Farewell,  fair  queen  ;  weep  not  for  Mortimer, 
That  scorns  the  world,  and,  as  a  traveller, 
Goes  to  discover  countries  yet  unknown. 

Shakspere's  villains— Eichard  III,  Macbeth,  and 
Gloster's  bastard  son — die  with  desperate  fortitude,  and 
lago  receives  his  condemnation  in  sullen  silence.  The 
Stoical  fortitude  of  the  heroines  of  Elizabethan  tragedy 
is  equally  remarkable.  For  the  present  let  one  instance 
suffice.     The  Winters  Tide,  III.  2  :— 

Leon.     Look  for  no  less  than  death. 

Her.  Sir,  spare  your  threats : 

The  bug  which  you  would  fright  me  with  I  seek. 


W  To  me  can  life  be  no  commodity. 

Compare  Troas  583-6  : — 


071  Elizabethan  Tragedy.  81 

Andb.     tuta  est  perire  quae  potest  debet  cupit. 
Vl.         magnifica  uerba  mors  prope  adniota  excutit. 
Andr.     si  uis  Vlixe  cogere  Andromacham  metu, 
uitam  minare  :  nam  mori  uotum  est  mihi. 

Seneca's  women  are  on  a  level  with  his  men  in  cour-  '^««««'«'^'""<» 
age,  in  strength  of  will  and  mental  power,  whether  in 
arguing  or  planning,  in  initiation  or  in  execution.  But 
perhaps  it  would  be  going  too  far  to  claim  for  Seneca 
that  he  helped  to  bring  about  the  different  position 
held  by  woman  in  the  Eomantic  drama  to  that  she 
occupied  in  Greek  tragedy ;  the  advance  is  not  merely 
a  literary  phenomenon ;  it  is  a  change  in  the  spirit 
and  customs  of  the  age.  The  same  is  to  be  said  of 
Klein's  remark  that  upon  the  Phaedra  Seneca  may 
ground  a  claim  to  have  created  the  modern  tragedy  i'^»'-f'-"ofdy. 
of  love,  though  the  suggestion  is  not  without  plausibility. 
Nisard  says  that  the  love  of  Phaedra  is  sensual  love,  that  -^^^ 

of  a  prostitute ;  to  which  it  may  be  replied  that  no 
presentation  of  Phaedra's  guilty  passion  would  make  it  ""^ 

pure  or  even  worthy  of  sympathy.  Euripides  overcame 
the  difficulty  by  representing  her  passion  as  a  divine 
visitation  beyond  her  own  control ;  Seneca  makes  little 
of  this,  and  reduces  love  to  its  merely  human  elements. 
Here,  again,  Seneca  comes  nearer  to  the  moderns,  by 
disregarding  that  very  element  of  fate,  which  in  another 
way  brings  him  into  close  connection  with  them.  Though 
he  propounds  philosophic  fatalism  in  Chorus  and  dialogue, 
Seneca  makes  little  of  it  in  his  delineation  of  character. 
His  personages  may  utter  fatalistic  apothegms,  and  be  at 
times  the  victims  of  circumstances  ;    but  in  moral  action 


^ 


32 


The  Influence  of  Seneca 


CoHtcietise' 
tragedy. 


they  give  every  evidence  of  free  will. .  The  repentance  of 
Thyestes,  the  remorse  of  Hercules  and  of  Deianira,  the 
hesitation  of  Medea,  the  uncertainty  of  Clytemnestra,  the 
anxiety  of  Poppaea,  and  the  increased  moral  sensitiveness 
of  Agamemnon — all  point  to  what  Klein  descrihes  as 
"die  Uehergangsstellung  der  romischen  Tragodie  zwischen 
der  Schicksalidee  der  Griechen  imd  der  Gewissenstragik 
des  von  der  christhchen  Bussstimmung  angeregten  nnd 
von  Shakspeare  ahgeschlossenen  Siihnespiels."  But  all 
these  are  ingenious  theories  supported  by  very  slight  evi- 
dence ;  we  must  return  to  the  solid  ground  of  fact. 


External  form. 


Five  Acts. 


\  I 


\ 


w 


The  Chorus. 


The  most  obvious  way  in  which  Seneca  affected  the 
modern  drama  was  in  external  form.  From  Seneca  the 
European  drama  in  general,  and  English  tragedy  in 
particular,  received  the  five  acts  which  have  become  the 
ruleL_ofLjthe^iodern  stage.  In  the  Greek  drama  the 
number  of  erreia-oSia  was  variable  ;  the  division  into  five 
acts  was  apparently  established  by  Varro,  and  is  noted 
by  Horace  in  the  Ars  Poetica  as  a  rule  to  be  strictly 
observed ;  ^  but  it  was  the  example  of  Seneca  that 
governed  the  practice  of  the  modern  stage.  Seneca's 
division  into  five  acts  separated  by  choruses  is  exactly- 
reproduced  ia  our  earliest  tragedies— in  Gorbodue,  in  TJie 
Misfortunes  of  Arthur,  and  in  Tancred  and  Gismund.  The 
usage  of  Seneca  with  respect  to  the  Chorus  is  retained 
in  Gascoigne's  Jocasta,  in  Kyd's  Cornelia,  in  the  Countess 

1  See  Prof.   Wilkins'  note  (line  189),  and  0,   Ribbeck  Eomische 
Tragodie,  p.  642. 


on  EUzahethan  Tragedy. 


33 


Chorus. 


of  Pembroke's  Antony,  in  Daniel's  Cleopatra  and  Phihtas, 

in   JonBon's    Catilw,   in    Lord    Brooke's   Alaham   and 

Mustapha,,  and  in  Stirling's  Monarchicke  Tragedies ;  but  it 

was  ajdevice  foreign  to  the  dramatic  genius  of  the  English 

people,  and  did  not  long  keep  i^s  place  on  the  populgur 

stage  in  its  original  form  and  purpose.     In  The  Spamsh 

Tragedy  Andrea  and  Revenge 

sit  down  to  see  the  mystery 
And  serve  for  Chorus  in  this  Tragedy. 

In  Soliman  am.d  Perseda  the  same  office  is  performed 
by  Love,  Fortune,  and  Death.  There  are  three  choruses 
in  Faiisliis,  two  (three  acts)  in  Peele's  Daiyid  and  Beihsahe^ 
one  in  Homeo  and  Juliet,  Shakspere's  Uise  of  fhe  Chorus  shakspere's 
in  Henry  V  is  very  different  fto  the  manner  of  Seneca; 
whose  choruses  could  be  cutout  without  any  injury  to 
the  plot,  and  in  some  cases  might  even  be  transferred 
from  one  tragedy  to  another  without  any  loss  of  appro- 
priateness. Indeed  the  choruses  of  Seneca  have  often  no 
more  relation  to  the  conduct  of  the  plot  than  the  lyrics  with 
which  the  Eliztbethans  adorned  their  plays. .  In  Henry  V 
the  Chorus  becomes  a  necessary  part  of  the  action,  and 
at  the  same  time  gives  the  dramatist  the  opportunity  of 
calling  upon  the  spectators  to  eke  out  the  historic  and 
scenic  illusion  by  the  aid  of  imagination  : — 

Think,  when  we  talk  of  horses,  that  you  gee  them 
Printing  their  proud  hoofs  i'  the  receiving  earth  ; 
For  'tis  yoar  thoughts  that  now  must  deck  our  kings, 
Carry  them  here  and  there  ;  jumping  o'er  times, 
Turning  the  accomplishment  of  many  years 
Into  an  hour-glass  :  for  the  which  supply. 
Admit  me  Chorus  to  this  history. 


I 


S4  The  Liflucnce  of  Seneea 

This  Shaksperean  usage  is  a  notable  advance  on 
classical  authority,  and  was  peculiar  to  the  Elizabethan 
stage.  The  Chorus  was  used  in  this  way  at  a  later  date 
by  Fletcher  and  Massinger  in  The  Prophetess;  and  Thomas 
Heywood  by  this  meaus  eked  out  the  imperfect  action  of 
Jf  you  know  not  me,  you  know  no  Bodie,  or  TJie  Tro^dles  of 
Queen  FAizahith}  Ea^nulph  Higden  in  Middleton's  Mayor 
of  Queenhorough,  and  Gower  in  Pericles  are  also  much  less 
satisfactory  figures  than  the  Chorus  in  Henry  V  with  its 
Boul-stirring  patriotism  and  magnificent  verse;  and  while  we 
cannot  but  be  thankful  for  a  form  of  art  of  which  we  have 
immortal  examples  like  the  chorusas  of  Henry  V,  on  the 
whole  wo  can  hardly  regret  that  the  Chorus  took  the  path 
^%TFheChorm  i^^^i'l^^d  out  for  it  by  the  developement  of  the  drama,  and 
disappeared  from  the  modern  stage.  Seneca's  use  of  the 
Chorus  was  a  plain  forewarning  of  its  ultimate  fate.  In 
the  early  plays  of  Aeschylus  supreme  importance  is 
attached  to  the  Chorus,  which  was  the  kernel  from  which 
the  drama  had  sprung.  In  Sophocles  the  Chorus  has 
become  subordinate  to  the  dialogue.  In  Euripides  its 
connection  with  the  action  is  often  slight ;  in  Seneca  thisi 
connection  disappears  altogether ;  the  Chorus  is  already 
on  ils  way  to  exclusion  from  the  play  and  final  disuf.e. 


^the^Romn"^         Agathou  had  lut roduccd  independent  eix^oXiixa   into 

stage.  Greek  tragedy  ;  but  the  important  step  was  taken  when 

the  Chorus  was  excluded  from  the  orchestra  in  the  Roman 


1   The  Chorus  is  first  found  in  the  edition  of  1632 ;  it  is  not  in  the 
editions  of  1605-6, 


oil   EUzahi'than  Tragcchj.  85 

\ 

\ 

theatre,  and  given  a  place  on  the  stage.  "When  this 
■change  was  once  effected,  the  jiresence  of  the  Chorus  was 
no  longer  necessary  to  the  conduct  of  the  action.  An 
examination  of  the  fragments  of  early  Roman  tragedy 
shows  that  the  Chorus  sometimes  stayed  on  the  stage 
throughout  the  action,  sometimes  went  on  and  off  accord- 
ing to  the  exigencies  of  the  plot.^  Seneca's  Chonis senecx-^choms. 
seems  to  have  heen  invariably  absent  during  the  progress  ~ 
^ofjhe  action.  He  completely  set  at  defiance  tlie  admoni- 
tion of  Horace : — 

actoris  partis  chorus  officiumque  uirile 
dcfcndat,  neu  quid  medios  iutercinat  actus 
quod  nOn  proposito  conducat  et  liaereat  apte. 

The  wording  of  Hercules  Fiircns  831, 

dcnsa  sed  laeto  uenit 
clamore  turba  frontibus  laurum  gerens 
magnique  mevitas  Herculis  laudes  cauit, 

shows  that  the  Chorus  only  came  on  the  stage  to  fill  the 
pauses  between  the  acts  ;  and  it  took  no  other  part  in 
the  pluy.  Even  where,  as  in  the  Tlu/estes,  the  Chorus  is 
one  of  the  interlocutors,  immediately  after  it  is  assumed 
to  be  ignorant  of  the  dialogue  that  has  just  taken  place  ; 
and  to  make  the  passage  at  all  reasonable,  wo  must 
suppose  that  where  the  Chorus  takes  part  in  the  action, 
its  office  is  performed  by  the  Coryphaeus  alone,  and  that 
the  other  members  of  the  Chorus  are  not  present.  Thus 
it  comes  about  that,  in  answer  to  the  questions  of  the 

1  See  article  by  Otto  Jahn  in  llermes  II.,  p.  226. 


86  The  Influence  of  Seneca 

Chorus  (or  the  Coryi^haeus)  the  Messenger  describes  the 
murder  of  the  children  of  Thyestes,  and  expresses  his 
horror  at  the  deed,  ending  his  speech  with  the  words  : — 

uerterit  cursus  licet 
sibi  ipse  Titan  obuium  ducens  iter 
tenebrisque  facinus  obruat  tetrum  nouis 
nox  missa  ab  ottu  tempore  alieno  grauis  : 
tamen  uidendum  est,  tota  patefient  mala. 

But  immediately  after  the  Chorus  want  to  know  the 
reason  of  the  darkness,  and  come  to  the  conchision  that 
it  must  be  the  end  of  tlie  world.  Another  suggestion  to 
overcome  this  difficulty  is  the  division  of  the  Chorus  ; 
and  still  another  explanation  of  Seneca's  apparent  care- 
lessness on  this  point  is  to  be  found  in  the  theory  that 
the  tragedies  were  not  intended  to  be  acted,  but  to  be 
read.  But,  seeing  that  Seneca,  in  the  plays  now  regarded 
as  genuine,  has  taken  the  trouble  to  observe  the  rule 
of  the  three  actors,  it  seems  rash  to  assume  that  he 
committed  such  a  glaring  absurdity  in  the  management 
of  the  Chorus.  However  that  may  be,  it  is  clear  that  the 
Chorus  was  not  supposed  to  be  on  the  stage  during  the 
progress  of  the  action.  This  is  proved  by  Hippolytus 
G07-9 :— 

Phae.  commodes  paulum  precor 

secretus  aures.     si  quis  est  abeat  comes. 
Hipp,    en  locus  ab  omni  liber  arbitrio  uacat. 

even  though  832-6  might  lead  us  to  an  opposite  conclu- 
sion, for  this  is  one  of  the  few  passages  in  Seneca  which 
seem  to  presume  that  the  Chorus  has  some  knowledge  of 


on   Elwabethan  Tragedy.  37 

the  course  of  the  action.  But  it  would  be  ridiculous  to 
suppose  that  Phaedra  preferred  her  shameful  suit  before 
the  faces  of  a  band  of  Athenian  citizens,  and  that  they 
afterwards  allowed  Hippolytns  to  be  falsely  accused  in 
their  presence  when  they  could  give  direct  evidence  of  his 
innocence.  Medea  cannot  have  unfolded  her  deep-laid 
scheme  of  vengeance  in  the  ears  of  an  unfriendly  band  of 
Corinthians,  and  Atreus  could  not-  have  revealed  the  trap 
he  was  laying  for  his  brother  to  the  Chorus  which  sang 
immediately  after : — 

tandem  regia  nobilis 
antiqui  genus  Inachi, 
frati'um  conposuit  minas. 

A  similar  conclusion  may  be  drawn  from  Troas 
369-379  ;  in  the  Agamemnon,  the  Hercides  Oetaeus,  and 
the  Octavia  there  are  two  choruses,  and  the  same  argu- 
ment holds  good. 


The  absence  of  the  Chorus  during  the  progress  of  me "  umue,- 
the    action  lessened    Seneca's   hold    on    the   so-called 
*'  unities  "  of  time  and  place,  which  w'ere  not  arbitrary    1 
rules  of  the  Greek  drama,  but  natural  consequences  of    \ 
the  continuous  presence  of  the  Chorus.     It  used  to  be  the     i 
fashion  to    base    the    unities  on  the  authority    of   the 
Greek   tragic  poets  and  of  Aristotle,   but  more   recent 
criticism  has  discovered  that  the  unities  of  time  and  place 
are  by  no  means  regularly  observed  in  Greek  tragedy, 


38  The  InJIiKnice  of  Senecct 

and  Seneca  has  been  made  responsible  for  the  cumbrous 
system  of  artificiaHties  which  was  foisted  upon  the  French 
I  classical  drama.  Asa  matter  of  fact,  Seneca  has  no  more 
^'espect  for  the  unities  than  the  Greeks.  Aeschylus  was 
apparently  ignorant  of  any  necessity  for  continuity  of 
action  ;  and  the  observance  of  Sophocles  and  Euripides 
is  not  without  exceptions.  Seneca  makes  some  effort  to 
conform  to  the  precept  of  Aristotle,  but  he  is  not  bound 
by  any  hard  and  fast  line.  As  Lessing  has  shown,^  no 
of  lime  reasonable  assumption  will  bring  the  action  of  the 
Thyestes  within  the  limits  of  a  single  day  ;  and  the  Thchais 
has  a  change  of  scene,  even  apart  from  its  fragmentary 
composition.  The  action  of  the  Octet oia  extends  over  at 
least  three  days.     In  line  604  Nero  says 

quin  deefcinausus  proximam  thalamis  diem? 

On  the  day  after  the  marriage  Poppaea  recounts  a 
V  dream  she  has  had  during  the  past  night,  an  insurrection 

caused  by  the  divorce  of  Octavia  is  crushed,  and  Octavia 
and  pince.  scut  into  cxile.  The  action  of  the  Tlcmdes  Octcmis  begins  in 
Oechalia,  then  changes  to  Trachis,  and  ends  on  Mount 
Oeta  ;  and  there  are  journeys  to  and  from  Oechalia  and 
Trachis,  which  must  have  taken  several  days.  Probably 
the  most  obvious  offences  against  the  unities  of  time  and 
place  are  to  be  found  in  the  plays  wrongly  ascribed  to 
Seneca ;  but  I  have  already  pointed  out  that,  for  the 
Elizabethans,  this  distinction  did  not  exist.     The  first 


1  Thcatralischo  Bibliothek,  Erstes  Stuck  (Lachmann)  S.  321  3. 


on  EUzahdhan  Tragedij. 


89 


English  tragedy,  Gorhoduc,  begins,  as  in  Seneca,^  by  mark- 
ing the  fact  that  the  action  opens  at  daybreak  : — 

The  silent  night  that  bringes  the  quiet  pawse, 
From  painef  ull  trauailes  of  the  wearie  daie, 
Prolonges  my  carefull  thoughtes,  and  maljes  me  blame 
The  slowe  Aurore  that  so,  for  loue  or  shame, 
Doth  longe  delaye  to  shewe  her  blushing  face  ; 
And  nowe  the  daie  renewes  my  griefull  plainte. 

These  h'nes  are  quite  in  Seneca's  style,  and  might 
almost  be  a  patchwork  from  the  openings  of  the  Octavia 
and  the  Oedipus.  But,  as  in  the  Hercules  Oetacus,  no 
attempt  is  made  to  bring  the  action  within  the  limits  of 
a  single  day ;  armies  are  raised,  and  considerable 
jonrneys  made  in  the  course  of  the  tragedy.  The  miracle 
plays  had  accustomed  English  audiences  to  absence  of 
continuity,  changes  of  scene,  and  a  large  number  of 
actors,  features  which  were  exceptional  or  altogether 
lacking  in  aQcient  tragedy.  The  Elizabetlians  were 
probably  not  aware  that  Seneca  observed  the  rule  of  three  Three  Actort. 
actors,  for  only  a  careful  examination  has  revealed  the 
fact  that  the  genuine  plays  of  Seneca  are  arranged  for 
three  actors,  the  pseudo-Senecan  for  four. 


Another  maxim  of  the  Ars  Poet  lea, 

ne  pueros  coram  populo  Medea  trucidet, 

Seneca  flagrantly  violated.     Medea  kills  both  her  children 
on  the  stage,  and  as  she  flies  through  the* air  in  a  winged 


Sta<;e  De:cncie». 


1  See  Hercules    Fur-ens   123-138  ;  Thyestes  120-1 ;  Oedipus    1-5  ; 
Agamemnon  53-6,  Octavia  1-6, 


40  The  Lhfluence  of  Seneca 

car  flings  the  bodies  down  at  their  father's  feet.     Phaedra 
and  Jocasta  stab  themselves  coram  jjo'pido.     In  the  Thycstes 
the  precept  of  Horace  is,  from  the  necessities  of  the  case, 
observed  in  the  letter,  but  the  Messenger's  account  of  the 
sacrifice  is  drawn  out  in  such  sickening  detail  that  the 
repellent  effect  is  but  slightly  decreased  ;    the  same  may 
be  said  of  the  death  of  Hippolytus.     Commentators  have 
generally  assumed  that  Megara  and  her  children  are  slain 
in  view  of  the  spectators,  but  Lessing  and  Pierrot  contend 
that  this  is  a  mistake.      Lessing's  interpretation  of  the 
scene  runs  thus  :*' Hercules  draws  his  bow  and  pierces 
one  of  his  children  with  the  arrow  ;    the  second,  who 
clasps  his  father's  knees  with  his  little  hands  and  begs 
for  mercy  in  a  piteous  voice,  is  seized  in  that  powerful 
grasp,  swung  round  in  the  air,  and  dashed  to  pieces  on 
the  ground.     While  Hercules  is  pursuing  the  third,  who 
flies  for  refuge  to  his  mother,  the  latter  is  caught  sight 
of,  and  taken  for  Juno.      Hercules  slays  first  his, child, 
and  then  his  wife. — AH  this,  the  reader  will  say,  must  make 
a  very  horrible  and  bloody  speci,ac]e.     But  in  this  place, 
by  the  help  of  the  Roman  stage,  which  was  constructed  on 
a  very  different  plan  to  ours,  the  poet  ha3  introduced 
a  very  fine  scene.     As  Hercules  pursues  his  children  and 
his  wife,  and  from  time  to  time  goes  out  of  sight  of  the 
spectators,  all  the  murders  take  place  behind  the  scenes, 
where  they  can  only  be   seen  by  the  other  characters  on 
the  stage,  above  all  by  Amphitryon,  who  each  moment 
describes  all  he  sees,  and  thus  informs  the  spectators  of 
it  in  as  lively  a  fashion  as  if  they  had  seen  it  themselves." 
Heinsius  is  of  opinion  that  the  murders  took  place  in  view 


on  EUzahethan  Tragcchj.  41 

of  the  spectators,  and  suggests  that  in  this  tragedy  Nero 
Sfitisfied  his  lust  for  blood  in  the  same  way  as  in  the  case 
of  the  Icarus  who  was  dashed  to  pieces  on  the  stage  and 
bespattered  the  tyrant  with  his  gore.  The  text  seems  to 
bear  out  the  view  of  Lessincf  and  Pierrot,  but  we  mav  be 
sure  that  the  Elizabethans  were  unaware  of  this  ingenious 
explanation,  which  is  by  no  means  obvious  to  a  critical 
reader,  much  less  to  the  unlearned. 


The  early  Elizabethans  show  much  diversity  in  their  ■^SilL'''^ 
observance  of  stasie  decencies.  la  Gorboduc  and  The 
Misfortunes  of  Arthur  the  deaths  are  reported  by  a  Mes- 
senger ;  but  in  contemporary  tragedies  intended  for  the 
pjpular  stage  there  is  no  such  reserve.  In  Kin/)  Camhuses 
(c.  1561)  Execution  smites  Sisamnes  in  the  neck  with  a 
sword  "  to  signify  his  death,"  and  "  flays  him  with  a 
false  skin  "  upon  the  command  of  the  King,  "Pull  his 
skill  over  his  ears."  Cruelty  and  Murder  enter  "with  7^ 
bloody  hands  "  to  slay  Smirdis,  and  after  they  have  ^^ 
Stabbed  him,  "  a  little  bladder  of  viuegar  is  pricked  "  to 
represent  his  blood.  In  Afipius  and  Virginia  (pr.  1575, 
acted  1563)  we  have  the  stage  direction,  "  Here  tie  a 
handkercher  about  her  eyes,  and  then  strike  off  her  head;" 
but  there  is  no  suggestion  as  to  the  means  whereby  this 
feat  was  accomplished  without  injury  to  the  actor  of  the 
part ;  afterwards  Virginius  brings  in  Virginia's  head — a 
precedent  in  stage  effect  which  had  illustrious  followers. 
Appivs  and  Virginia  and  Cainhijr.es  are  both  closely  con- 
nected with  the  moralities,  and  it  is  probable  that  the 


/f 


42 


The  Influence  of  Seneca 


I 


The  M trade 
Plays. 


I 


\ 


practice  of  the  miracle  plays  had  considerable  influence 
uprn  the  Enghsh  stage  in  this  respect.^  In  the  York, 
Chester,  Coventry,  and  Towneley  Mystery  Plays  the 
murder  of  Abel  and  the  Crucifixion  take  place  on  the 
stage  ;  in  the  Digby  Mysteries  the  children  of  Bethlehem 
are  slain  on  the  stage,  and  Herod  dies  there.  Though 
the  authors  of  our  first  regular  tragedies  did  not  imitate 
the  directness  of  the  miracle  plays  in  the  action  proper, 
they  did  not  hesitate  to  represent  deeds  of  violence  and 

TheDuwh-siwiv  murder  on  the  stage  in  dumb-show.  In  Gorhoduc  and  The 
\  Misforiitnes  of  Arthur  the  dumb-show  is  allegorical ;  bu 
in  Tancred  and  Oismund  it  is  sometimes  realistic  enougl 
Guiscard's  death  was  represented  thus: — "After  Guiscard 
had  Idndly  taken  leave  of  them  all,  a  strangling- cord 
was  fastened  about  his  neck,  and  he  haled  forth 
by  them.  Renuchio  bewaileth  it,  and  then,  enter- 
ing in,  bringeth  forth  a  standing  cup  of  gold, 
with  a  bloody  heart  reeking  hot  in  it,  and  then  saith, 
ut  sequfitur."  The  speech  that  follows  is  moulded  on 
that  of  the  Messenger  in  the  Thyestes.     Gismunda  dies 

A  Kotexvo7ihy  on  thc  stage,  but  in  this  point  there  is  a  marked  difference 

Change.  .        _  . 

between  the  manuscript  of  1568  and  the  revised  edition 
of  1591.  In  the  first  version  Gismunda  is  disposed  of 
very  quietly,  the  stage  direction  being  merely  "Gismonda 


\/ 


I 


1  To  the  influence  of  the  miracle  plays  we  should  perhaps  also 
ascribe  the  mixture  of  comedy  and  tragedy  which  is  found  in  Ca/tyihyses 
and  Appius  and  Virginia,  and  which  afterwards  became  a  distinctive 
mark  of  the  romantic  drama.  Seneca  has  not  the  slightest  hint  of 
comedy,  not  even  such  an  approach  to  it  as  the  Watchman  in  the 
Agamemnon  of  Aeschylus  and  the  Antigone  of  Sophocles,  or  the 
humours  of  Hercules  in  the  Alcestis  of  Euripides. 


OH  EUzahethan  Tragedy.  .  4B 

dieth  " ;  her  father  then  makes  a  speech  foreshadowing 
his  own  death,  and  goes  off  the  stage ;  the  epilogue  in- 
forms us  parenthetically  that  he  "  now  himself  hath 
slain."  In  the  revised  edition  Gismunda's  death  scene 
is  considerably  enlarged,  and  Tancred  puts  out  his  eyes  I 
and  kills  himself  on  the  stage.  The  change  is  a  remark-  '' 
able  one,  and  is  probably  to  be  ascribed  to  the  horrors  of 
The  Spanish  Traged'y  and  the  authority  of  Marlowe,  which 
made  it  the  rule  of  the  English  stage  to  follow  the  practice 
_of'  Seneca.  Sometimes  the  murders  are  presented  on  the 
stage,  sometimes  they  are  reported  by  the^Messenger,  a  TheHesscnge 
figure^appearing  with  decreasing  importance  in  Greek, 
Eoman,  and  English  tragedy.  Shakespere  represents  all 
kinds  of  horrors  coram,  populo  ;  but  he  does  not  disdain 
the  use  of  the  traditional  machinery,  and  sometimes  his 
Messengers  remind  us  of  those  of  Seneca.  Compare,  for 
instance,  Romeo  and  Juliet,  Y.l  :— 

O,  pardon  me  for  biinging  these  ill  news, 
Since  you  did  leave  it  for  my  office,  sir. 

with  Hippolytus  1000-1  :— 

o  sors  acerba  et  dura  famulatus  grauis, 
cu)-  me  ad  nefandos  nuntium  casus  uocas  ? 

And  Machcth,  IV.  3  :—     ^f^^^-^^ 

Let  not  your  ears  despise  my  tongue  for  ever, 
Which  shall  possess  them  with  the  heaviest  sound 
That  ever  yet  they  heard. 

with  Troas  533-5:—. 

durae  minister  sortis  hoc  primum  peto, 
Ut  ore  quamis  uerba  dicantur  raeo 
.  non  esse  credas  nostra, 


44  The  Influence  of  Seneca 

^'iacterf^^Y  ^^^  additioii  to  tlie  Messenger,  Seneca  bestowed  upon 
I  English  tragedy  other  stock  characters — the  confidential 
Nurse,  full  of  counsel  and  consolation  ;  her  male  counter- 
l^art,  the  faithful  Servant ;  and  the  cruel  Tyrant,  with 
his  ambitious  schemes  and  maxims  of  rule.  But  the 
most  important  inheritance  of  English  tragedy  in  this 

The  Ghost.  X^espect  was  the  Ghost.  As  Mr.  J.  A.  Symonds  says  in 
Shakspere's  Predecessors,  "  the  Ghost,  imported  from 
Seneca  into  English  tragedy,  had  a  long  and  brilliant 
career."  Much  could  be  added  to  what  Mr.  Symonds 
has  said  on  this  point,  but  nothing  could  be  said  better. 
Attention  may,  however,  be  called  to  the  important  part 

i'.v«o.r7/j<!5«i)fir- played  in  Seneca's  tragedies  by  supernatural  agencies  of 

natural.  n   i  •      t  t        ^  •  i  pi 

all  kinds,  in  the  mam,  the  use  oi  the  supernatural  was 
a  tradition  received  by  Seneca  from  the  Greeks ;  but  be 
considerably  enlarged  the  inheritance  before  he  handed 
it  on  to  English  tragedy.  If  all  the  dramas  of  Aeschylus 
were  extant,  we  might  find  that  the  author  of  the 
Psychagogoi  equalled  or  surpass  Seneca  in  this  respect ; 
but  there  is  an  appearance  of  probability  in  the  suggestion 
of  Dr.  Campbell  that  in  the  Eumentdes  Aeschylus  carried  the 
staging  of  the  supernatural  too  far  for  the  temper  of  his  age. 
Sophocles  and  Euripides  rely  less  than  Aechylus  upon 
the  use  of  the  supernatural,  and  it  was  left  for  Seneca 
to  develope  the  impressive  effects  of  supernatural 
appearances  and  devices,  and  bequeath  them  to  the 
modern  stage.  It  is  seldom  the  gods  of  the  upper  air 
whom  he  brings  on  the  scene  ;  the  atmosphere  he  loves 
to  breathe  is  that  of  the  world  below.  In  the  Hercides 
Furens  we  have  a  full  description  of  all  the  horrors  of 


on  HUzahcthan  Tragedy.  45 

Tartarus,  and  again  and  again  in  other  plays  the  same 
picture  is  drawn  on  a  smaller  canvas.  Lethe,  Cocytus, 
Styx,  Acheron,  and  Phlegethon  are  Seneca's  best-loved 
streams  ;  Tantalus,  Ixion,  and  Sisyphus  his  favourite 
characters.  The  Ghost  of  Tantalus,  driven  jby^a  Fury, 
opens  the  Thyestes  ;  the  Ghost  of  Thyestes  the  Agamem- 
non', in  the  Octavia  the  Ghost  of  Agrippina  appears.  Laius 
is  called  up  from  the  shades  in  the  Oedipus ;  the  Ghosts 
of  Achilles  and  Hector  are  seen  in  visions  in  the  Troas; 
and  we  have  another  ghostly  dr6am--that  ofPoppaea — in 
the  Octavia.  Oedipus  is  terrified  in  the  Thehais  by  the  vision 
of  the  murdered  Laius,  and  Octavia's  dreams  are  haunted 
by  the  Ghost  of  Brittanicu?.  Atreus  and  Medea  invoke  the 
Furies  to  jaid  them  in  their  revenge  ;  and  when  Medea  is 
relenting,  she  is  spurred  on  by  the  appearance  of  her 
murdered  brother's  spirit.  It  would  take  too  long  to 
examine  the  vaiious  ways  in  which  these  suggestions  of 
Seneca  were  w^orked  out  by  ihe  Elizabethan  dramatists ; 
a  well-read  student  could  easily  call  to  mind  a  score  of 
parallels,  I  will  only  stay  to  draw  attention  to  two  less 
obvious  comparisons.  Juliet  is  inspired  with  strength  to 
take  the  sleeping-potion  by  a  like  vision  to  that  which 
appeared  to  Medea  in  her  moment  of  weakness  : — 

0,  look  !     methinks  I  see  my  cousin's  ghost 

Seeking  out  Romeo,  that  did  spit  his  body 

Upon  a  rapier's  point :  stay,  Tybalt,  stay  ! 

Romeo,  I  come  !  this  do  I  drink  to  thee.^  ' 


^  As  to  the  form  of  the  vision  see  also  Octavia  123-7. 


46  The  Infiience  of  Seneca 

With  the  invocations  of  Medea  and  Atreus  compare 
tliat  of  Lady  Macbeth  :  — 

Come,  you  spirits 
That  tend  on  mortal  thoughts,  unsex  me  here. 
And  fill  me,  from  the  crown  to  the  toe,  top-full 
Of  direst  cruelty  !     make  thick  my  blood, 
Stop  up  the  access  and  passage  to  remorse, 
That  no  compunctious  visitings  of  nature 
Shake  my  fell  purpose,  nor  keep  peace  between 
The  effect  and  it  !i 

Besides  ghosts  and  the  Furies  here  invoked,  two 
other  supernatural  defaces  used  in  Macbeth  had  been 
previously  employed  by  Seneca — witchcraft  and  oracles. 
The  latter  we  have  in  the  OeiUpus  and  the  Hercides  Oetaeiis ; 
the  former  in  the  Hercules  Oetaeiis  and  the  Medea.  Klein 
remarks  that  the  ingredients  contained  in  Medea's 
''  Hexenkessel "  vie  in  strange  variety  with  the  hotchpotch 
that  Macbeth 's  witches  throw  into  their  caldron;  and  a 
passage  in  The  Tempest,  V.  1  (Unes  41-60)  may  be  com- 
pared with  Hercules  Octaeus 4:67 -i(j6  SindMedea  755-772. 


^SSr*"""^  When  we  remember  that  sensational  horrors  presented 
on  the  stage,  the  Ghost,  and  the  Chorus  are  among  the 
most  striking  features  of  Seneca,  it  seems  not  a  little  re- 
markable that  these  very  points  should  be  selected  by  a  con- 
temporary critic  as  the  most  noteworthy  characteristics  of 
Elizabethan  tragedy.     In  the  Induction  to  A  Warning  for 

1  So  27ij/e8t€ii  249-254 ;  3{edea  13-17  and  973-4, 


on  ElizabetJian  Tragedy.  47 

Faire  Women  (1599)  we  liave  the  following  description  of 
contemporary  tragedy : — 

How  some  damnxl  tyrant  to  obtain  a  crown 

Stabs,  hangs,  impoisons,  smothers,  cutteth  throats : 

And  then  a  Chorus,  too,  comes  howling  in 

And  tells  us  of  the  wonting  of  a  cat : 

Then,  too,  a  filthy  whining  ghost, 

Lapt  in  some  foul  sheet,  or  a  leather  pilch, 

Comes  screaming  like  a  pig  half  stick 'd, 

And  cries,  Vindicta  I — Revenge,  Revenge  I 

With  that  a  little  rosin  flasheth  forth, 

Like  smoke  out  of  a  tobacco  pipe,  or  a  boy's  squib. 

Then  comes  in  two  or  three  [more]  like  to  drovers. 

With  tailors'  bodkins,  stabbing  one  another — 

The  Warning  fm-  Faire  Women,  although  it  professess 
to  be  only  a  "  true  and  home-born  tragedy,"  is  not 
altogether  free  from  the  faults  criticised  in  the  Induction. 
At  the  opening  of  Act  11,  Tragedy  enters  "  with  a  bowl  of 
blood  in  her  hand,"  and  speaks  the  following  lines  : — 

This  deadly  banquet  is  prepar'd  at  hand, 
Where  Ebon  tapers  are  brought  up  from  hell 
To  lead  black  Murther  to  this  damned  deed. 
The  ugly  Screech-owl  and  the  night-Raven, 
With  flaggy  wings,  and  hideous  croaking  noise, 
Do  beat  the  casements  of  this  fatal  house. 
Whilst  I  do  bring  my  dreadful  furies  forth 
To  spread  the  table  to  this  bloody  feast. 

The  height  of  sensational  horror  is  finally  reached 
in  an  execution  on  the  stage. 


Gorhoiuc 


48  The  Influence  of  Seneca 

The  authors  of  Gorhoduc,  the  first  EngUsh  tragedy, 
as  has  been  ah'eady  pointed  out,  were  guilty  of  no  such 
offence  against  the  decencies  of  the  stage ;  and  the 
connection  of  Gorhoduc  with  Seneca  as  to  external  form 
and  the  observance  of  the  unities  has  also  been  noticed.^ 
Though  we  miss  Seneca's  brilhant  dialogue,  the  resem- 
blance in  style  is  clear  throughout.  The  long  speeches 
and  "  grave  sententious  precepts  "  are  unmistakeably  in 
Seneca's  manner,^  and  sometimes  Seneca  seems  to  be 
also  responsible  for  the  thought  expressed.  In  Act  II.  1 
we  have : — 

Knowe  ye  that  lust  of  kingdomes  hath  no  la  we  ; 
The  Goddes  do  beare  and  well  allowe  in  kinges 
The  thinges  that  they  ^bhorre  in  rascall  routes. 
When  kinges  on  sclender  quarrels  ron  to  warres, 
And  than  in  cruell  and  vnkindely  wise, 
Coramaunde  theftes,  rapes,  murder  of  innocentes, 
To  spoile  of  townes  &  reignes  of  mightie  realmes, 
Thinke  you  such  princes  do  suppose  them  selues 
Subiect  to  lawes  of  kinde  and  feare  of  Gods. 
Murders  and  violent  theftes  in  priuate  men 
Are  heynous  crymes  and  full  of  foule  reproche, 
Yet  none  offence,  but  decked  with  glorious  name 
Of  noble  conquestes  in  the  handes  of  kinges,  ^ 


1  See  pp.  32,  39,  41. 

2  Gorhoduc  is  praised  by  Sidney  in  the  Apologie/or  Foeirie  "  as  it 
is  full  of  stately  speeches,  and  well  sounding  Phrases,  clyming  to  the 
height  of  Seneca  his  stile."  Sidney's  entire  criticism  of  Gorhoduc  is 
interesting,  but  it  is  too  long  for  quotation. 

3  The'  last  four  lines  are  differently  arranged  in  the  various 
editions,  but  this  seems  to  be  the  right  order.  It  is  the  reading  of  the 
2nd  edition  (the  first  authorised  edition),  which  is  generally  the  best, 


on  Elizahdhan  Tragedy.  49 

This  passage  appears  to  be  an  expansion  of  Aijamem- 
non  265  and  270-3  :— 

lex  alia  solio  est  alia  priuato  toro. 


igmota  tibi  sunt  iura  regnorum  haud  noua. 
nobis  maligni  iudices  aequi  sibi 
id  esse  regni  maximum  pignus  putant, 
si  quicquid  aliis  non  licet,  solis  licet. 

Compare  also  V.  1  :— 

So  giddie  are  the  common  peoples  mindes, 

So  glad  of  change,  more  wauerynge  than  the  sea, 

with  the  "  fliictuque  magis  mobile  uulgus  "  oi  Hercules, 
Fwms  171  ;  ai^d  in  the  same  scene, 

And  though  they  shuld  match  me  with  power  of  men, 
Yet  doubtf  ull  is  the  chaunce  of  battailes  ioyned, 

with  Thebais  627-9  :— 

licet  omne  tecum  Graeciae  robur  trahas 
licet  arraa  longe  miles  ac  late  explicet 
for  tuna  belli  semper  ancipiti  in  loco  est. 

It  would  perhaps  be  going  too  far  to  connect  the  lines 
in  Act  I.  2  : — 

— Shall  bridle  so  their  force  of  youthfull  heates, 
And  so  restreine  the  rage  of  insolence, 
Whiche  most  assailes  the  yonge  and  noble  minds 

with  Troas   259  :— 

iuuenile  uitium  est  regere  non  posse  impetum. 


50  The  Influence  of  Seneca 

But  it  is  at  any  rate  an  instance  of  tlie  dignified 
expression  of  commonplace  thought,  which  is  one  of 
Seneca's  chief  characteristics.  In  Gorhoduc,  as  in  Seneca, 
we  have  moralisings  on  the  impetuosity  of  youth,  the 
danger  of  pride,  the  fixity  of  fate,  the  fickleness  of  fortune, 
the  certainty  of  death.  The  mythological  allusions  in 
the  tragedy  are  to  the  infernal  company  of  which  Seneca 
is  so  fond — Tantalus,  Ixion,  and  the  snake-clad  furies. 
The  Chorus  at  the  end  of  Act  III  is  entirely  in  Seneca's 
style,  and  to  the  same  source  may  be  ascribed  the  rhetor- 
ical exaggeration  of  the  speech  of  Videna  which  follows. 
We  have  also  Seneca's  over- elaboration  and  formal  pre- 
ciseness,  of  which  an  example  may  be  noted  in  the 
psdantic  division  of  the  "  sortes  "  of  the  rebels  in  the 
the  speech  of  Eubulus,  V.  2} 


^Giiid"*^  In  the  Epistle  Dedicatory  to  Tancred  and  Gismund 

(acted  by  the  Gentlemen  of  the  Inner  Temple  in  1568) 
Wilham  Wcbbe  says,  "  The  tragedy  was  by  them  most 
pithily  framed,  and  no  less  curiously  acted  in  view  of  her 
Majesty,  by  whom  it  was  then  as  princely  accepted,  as 
of  the  whole  honourable  audience  notably  applauded  : 
yea,  and  of  all  men  generally  desired,  as  a  w^ork  either 
in  stateliness  of  show,  depth  of  conceit,  or  true  ornaments 
of  poetical  art,  inferior  to  none  of  the  best  in  that  kind  : 
no,  were  the  Eoman  Seneca  the  censurer."  He  therefore 
commends  it  •'  to  most  men's  appetites,  who  upon  onr 

»iC  '■■         — —  — — ' — — 

1  Cf.  Troas  1088-1097, 


on  EUzuhetlian  Tragedy.  61 

experience  we  know  liighly  to  esteem  such  lofty  measures 
of  sententiously  composed  tragedies."  We  have  here, 
again,  therefore,  a  tragedy  composed  in  Seneca's  style, 
and  built  on  his  model.  The  dialogue  especially  reminds 
US  of  Seneca  by  its  occasional  brilliance,  and  throughout 
we  have  echoes  of  his  thoughts  or  mode  of  expression. 
Kenuchio's  part  in  Act  V.  1  is  evidently  modelled  on 
that  of  the  Messenger  in  the  Thyestes.  Compare  the 
following : — 

Eenuchio,  is  this  Balerne  I  see  1 

Doth  here  King  Tancred  hold  the  awful  crown  ? 

Is  this  the  place  where  civil  people  be  1 

Or  do  the  savage  Scythians  here  abound  ? 

quaenum  ista  regio  est?    Argos  et  Sparte  inpios 
sortita  fratres  et  maris  gemini  premens 
fauces  Corinthos,  an  feris  Hister  f ugam 
praebens  Alanis,  an  sub  aeterna  niue 
Hyrcana  tellus,  an  uagi  passim  Scythae  ? 

(Thyestes  Q27-S\). 

Then  follows  in  each  case  a  long  and  elaborate  des- 
cription of  the  scene  and  the  horrible  details  of  tbe  crime. 
Compare  especially  : — 

Cho.     0  damned  deed  ! 

Ren,  What,  deem  you  this  to  be 

All  the  sad  news  that  I  have  to  unf-old  ? 

Is  here,  think  you,  end  of  the  cruelty 

That  I  have  seen  I 
Cho.  Could  any  heavier  woe 

Be  wrought  to  him,  than  do  destroy  him  so  1 


62  Th^  Influence  of  Seneca 

Ren.     What,  think  you  this  outrage  did  end  so  well  ? 

The  horror  of  the  fact,  the  greatest  grief, 

The  massacre,  the  terror  is  to  tell. 
Cho.     Alack  !  what  could  be  more?  they  threw  percase 

The  dead  body  to  be  devour'd  and  torn 

Of  the  wild  beasts. 
Rek.     Would  God  it  had  been  cast  a  savage  prey 

To  beasts  and  birds. 

Cho.  o  saeuum  seel  us. 

NvN.     exhorruistis  1    hactcnus  non  stat  ncfas, 

plus  est. 
Cho.  an  ultra  maius  aut  atrocius 

natura  recipit  1 
NvN.  sceleris  hunc  finem  putas? 

gradus  est. 
Cho.  quid  ultra  pot uit?  obiecit  feris 

Icuiianda  forsan.  corpora  atque  igne  arcuit. 
NvN.     utinam  arcuisset.     ne  tegat  functos  humus, 

ne  soluat  ignis,  auibus  epulandos  licet 

ferisque  triste  pabulum  saeuis  trahat. 

{Thyestes  743-751). 


/ 


The  Misfortunes  /  The  subJect  of  Thc  Misfortunes  of  Arthur,  as  of 
Gorhod'uc,  is  taken  from  early  British  history  or  legend  ; 
but  the  treatment  is  entirely  after  Seneca's  manner. 
Hughes  has  borrowed  not  lines  merely  (these  he  has 
borrowed  wholesale),  but  scenes  and  entire  speeches. 
The  first  act  is  little  more  than  a  mosaic  of  extracts 
from  Seneca,  pieced  together  with  lines  of  Hughes's  own 
invention,  cast  in  the  style  of  his  model.  Gorlois  is  a 
ghost  after  Seneca's  own  heart,  and  quotes  a  number  of 


on   EUzahethan  Tragedy,  53 

lines  from  the  opening  speech  of  the  Ghost  of  Tantahis 
in  the  Thyestcs.  The  influence  of  the  same  play  is 
strongly  marked  in  the  following  scenes,  hut  the  model 
chiefly  followed  is  now  rather  the  Agamemnon,  Guenevra 
being  moulded  on  Clytemnestra,  and  Mordred  on 
Aegisthus.  Other  plays  of  Seneca  are  also  laid  under 
contribution,  and  Guenevra  borrows  sentiments  from 
almost  all  Seneca's  guilty  heroes  and  heroines.  Fronia 
in  Scene  ii,  and  Conan  in  Scene  iv  repeat  the  lines  of 
the  Nurse  in  the  Agamemnon,  Ilippohjtus,  Medea,  and 
Hercules  OetaeuB,  and  the  Servant  in  the  Thyestes ;  and 
Conan  also  plays  the  part  of  Seneca  in  the  Octavia.  The 
speech  of  the  Nuntius,  which  opens  Act  II,  might  be 
suggested  by  the  Agamemnon,  though  in  Seneca  a  storm 
is  described,  and  here  it  is  a  battle.  The  dialogue 
between  Mordred  and  Conan  in  Scene  ii  on  kingly 
rights  and  duties  is  borrowed  partly  from  that  between 
Seneca  and  Nero  in  the  Octavia,  partly  from  that  between 
Agamemnon  and  Pyrrhus  in  the  Troas,  with  a  few  lines 
fiom  the  Thyestes,  the  Hippohjtus,  and  the  Thehais.  In 
Scene  iii  there  are  considerable  extracts  from  the  Hercules 
Fureris,  Oedipus,  Thyestes,  Thehais,  and  Hippolytus.  In 
Scene  iv  Hughes  breaks  away  at  last  from  his  model, 
but  not  entirely,  and  the  Chorus  which  follows  is 
altogether  in  Seneca's  vein.  Arthur's  speeches  in 
III.  1  are  considerably  indebted  to  the  reflections 
of  Agamemnon  in  Troas  267-283,  and  it  is  not 
until  Scene  iii  that  the  author  trusts  entirely  to  his 
own  powers.  Arthur's  speech  is  full  of  pathos  and  force, 
and  the  speeches  that  follow  are  also  vigorous,  though 


54  The  InJJumce  of  Seneca 

suffering  from  Seneca's  fault  of  rhetorical  exaggeration. 
The  last  scene  lias  a  few  excerpts  from  Seneca,  and  so 
lias  the  Chorus,  but  the  latter  is  in  the  main  origiual. 
The  rest  of  the  play  contains  a  number  of  borrowed  lines, 
but  nothing  like  the  proportion  of  the  first  two  acts.  The 
best  idea  of  the  extent  of  the  author's  indebtedness  to 
Seneca  will  be  gained  from  Appendix  II,  where  it  is  set 
ojit  at  length. 


cictimeai  Tra-  ^\^q   abovc    traofcdles  were    all    performed    betore 

^'""^'  restricted  audiences,  though  they  w^re  afterwards  given 

to  the  world  through  the  printing-press.  Gorhoduc  formed 
part  of  the  Christm-as  Festivities  of  the  Gentlemen  of  the 
Inner  Temple  in  1561,  and  was  acted  by  them  on  Janu- 
ary 18th  before  the  Queen  at  Whitehall ;  a  piratical  issue 
appeared  in  1565,  and  an  authorised  edition  in  1571. 
Tancml  and  Gisimind  was  acted  before  the  Queen  at  the 
Inner  Temple  in  1568,  and  printed  in  1591.  The  Mis- 
fortunes  of  Arthur  was  "  presented  to  her  Majestie  by 
the  Gentlemen  of  Grayes  Inne,  at  her  Highnesse  Court 
in  Greenewich,  the  twenty  eighth  day  of  Februarie  in 
the  thirtieth  yeare  of  her  Majesties  most  happy 
Raigne ;"  it  was  printed  in  the  same  year  (1587-8). 
These  three  plays,  together  with  Gascoigne's  Jocastcij 
are  the  earliest  known  examples  of  classical  tragedy 
ill  the  English  language.  As  such,  they  have  an 
interest  of  their  own ;  but  they  are  chiefly  of  im- 
portance because  of  the  influence  they  exercised  upon 
plays  intended  for  the  popular  stage.     Later  examples 


on  Elizabethan  Tragedy.  65 

of  classical  tragedy  did  not  exercise  this  influence, 
and  may  be  dealt  with  very  briefly.  Mr.  Symonds  has 
shown^  that  the  example  of  Seneca  moulded  the  Alaham 
and  Mustapha  of  Fnlke  Greville,  Lord  Brooke,  printed  in 
1633,  but  Tvritten  much  earlier.  It  would  be  easy  to 
enlarge  on  the  indebtedness  of  these  tragedies  to  Seneca; 
but  they  may  be  dismissed  with  the  remark  of  Mr. 
Symonds  that  "  they  had  no  influence  over  the  develope- 
ment  of  the  English  drama,  and  must  be  regarded  in  the 
light  of  ponderous  literary  studies."  This  is  also  true  of 
the  four  Blonarchic'ke  Tragedies  of  William  Alexander,  Earl 
of  Stirling  (printed  1603-5).  In  tho  plays  of  both  these 
noblemen  we  have  long  passages  of  meditation  varied  by 
philosophic  choruses  and  dialogues  of  stichomythia. 
Seneca's  influence  is  also  paramount  in  the  Cleopatra 
(1594)  and  Fhilotas  (1605)  of  Samuel  Daniel — works  of 
much  greater  literary  value  than  the  preceding,  for  Daniel 
has,  to  use  the  words  of  Mr.  Saintsbury,^  an  "  almost 
unsurpassed  faculty  of  ethical  verse;"  But  Cleopatra 
and  Fhilotas  •' stand  practically  alone  "^  in  the  English 
drama  as  studies  after  the  manner  of  the  French 
school  of  Seneca,  and  though  interesting  as  a  literary 
curiosity,  they  are  of  no  great  importance  either  on  the 
ground  of  their  intrinsic  literary  merits,  or  the  influence 
they  exercised. 


1  Shakspere's  Predecessors,  p.  222. 

2  la  a  Preliminary  Note  on  the  Position  of  Daniel's  Tragedies  in 
English  Literature,  in  Vol.  III.  of  Grosart's  Edition  of  Daniel. 

3  Kyd's  Cornelia  (as  Mr.  Saintsbury  points  out)  and  the  Countess 
of  Pembroke's  Antony  were  merely  translations. 


56  The  Influence  of  Seneca 

^^^ajj."^"^*""  The  iiicain  stream  of  English  tragedy  was  flowing  in 

quite  other  channels.  Seneca's  influence  was  felt,  but 
the  chief  motive  was  to  please  a  popular  audience,  which 
made  complete  submission  to  Seneca's  authority  imposs- 
ible. The  combination  of  the  two  impulses  was  difficult, 
and  at  first  the  connection  between  the  classical  and  the 
popular  drama  was  very  slight.   The  '•  lamentable  tragedy" 

carnbi/sai.        of  Cambyses,^  probably  contemporary  with  Gorboduc,  shews 
few  marks  of  classical  influence;    it  is  "  mixed   full  of^ 
pleasant  mirth,"  and  has  much  in  common  with  the 
moralities ;   but  there  is  a  curious    prologue    appealing 
to  the  authority  of  Agathon  and  Seneca  : — 

The  sage  and  witty  Seneca 

His  words  thereto  did  frame ; 
The  honest  exercise  of  kings 

Men  will  ensue. the  same. 
But  contrary-wise,  if  that  a  king 

Abuse  his  kingly  seat, 
His  ignomy  and  bitter  shame 

In  fine  shall  be  more  great. 

The  reference  seems  to  be  to  Thyestes  213-7  : — 

rex  uelit  honesta  :  nemo  non  eadcm  uolet. 

ubi  non  est  pudor, 

nee  cura  iuris,  sanctitas  pietas  fides  . 
instabile  regnum  est. 

^  One  cannot  say  positively  that  Camhysss  was  written  for  the 
popular  stage;  but  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  the  author,  Thomas  Preston, 
was  a  fellow  of  King's  College,  Cambridge,  and  acted  at  the  University 
•  before  Queen  Elizabeth,  I  am  inclined  to  believe  that,  like  Appius 
and  Virginia,  it  was  performed  on  the  "  scaffold"  of  the  miracle  plays  ; 
on  the  title  page  there  is  no  mention  of  its  being  acted  on  any  special 
occasion,  as  in  the  case  of  the  early  tragedies  mentioned  above. 


on  EUzahetlum  Tragedij. 


67 


Damon  and  Pithias  (pr.  1571)  also  contains  much  that  is  ^'PXa*  ""'^ 
aUen  to  Seneca;  it  is  a  "tragical  comedy"  and  the  humours 
of  Grim  the  CoUier  are  neither  tragic  nor  classical ;  but  in 
the  serious  part  of  the  drama  there  is  an  attempt — not  a 
verv  successful  one — to  imitate  the  manner  of  Seneca. 
The  scene  between  Dionysius  and  Eubulus  is  pretty 
closely  modelled  on  that  between  Nero  and  Seneca  in  the 
Octal- la,  e.g. : — 

Dio\.  A  mild  prince  the  people  despiseth. 

EuB.  A  cruel   king  the   people  hateth. 

Dion.  Let  them  hate  mo,  so  they  fear  me. 

EuB.  That  is  not  the  way  to  live  in  safety^ 

Dion.  My  sword  and  my  power  shall  purchase  my  quietness. 

EuB.  That  is   sooner  procured  by  mercy  and  gentleness. 

Dion.  Dionysius  ought  to  be  feared. 

EuB.  Better  for  him  to  be  well  beloved. 

Nero,  calcat  iacentem  uuljjus. 

Sen.  inuisum  opprimit. 

Nero,  ferrum  tuetur  principem. 

Sen.  melius  fides. 

Nero,  decet  timeri  Caesarem. 

Sen.  at  plus  diligi. 

(Ociavia  467-9.) 

And  again : — 

Dion.     Fortune  maketh  all  things  subject  to  my  power.  ' 

EuB.      Believe  her  not,  she  is  a  light  goddess  ;  she  can 
laugh  and  low'r. 


Nero,     fortuna  nostra  cuncta  permittit  mihi.      , 
Sen.        crede  obsequenti  parcius.  leuis  est  dea. 

(Ocfavia  463-4.) 


58  The  Influence  of  Seneca 

''rmSr^  T/i^  Simnish  Tragedy  (pr.  1599,  acted  probably  about 

1588)  is  important  from  its  popularity  and  its  typical 
•character.  Some  of  the  points  of  contact  with  Seneca 
have  been  noticed  already  ;  we  have  also  quotations  and 
jiranslations  from  Seneca  of  no  great  moment/  The 
chief  significance  of  the  play  lies  in  its  developement  of  the 
bloody  horrors  detailed  by  the  Ghost  at  the  end  of  the 
^action : — 

Ay,  now  my  hopes  have  end  in  their  effects, 
When  blood  and  sorrow  finish  my  desires  : 
Horatio  murder'd  in  his  father's  bower  ; 
Vild  Serberine  by  Pedringano  slain; 
False  Pod ringano  hang'd  by  quaint  device  ; 
Fair  Isabella  by  herself  misdone ; 
Prince  Balthazar  by  Bell'-Imperi-a  stabb'd  ; 
The  Duke  of  Castile  and  his  ,\vicked  son 
Both  done  to  death  by  old  Hieronimo. 
My  Bell'-Imperia  fall'n,  as  Dido  fell  : 
And  good  Hieronimo  slain  by  himself. 

But,  in  spite  of  all  this  bloodshed,  the  distinctive 
features  of  Seneca's  mode  of  treatment  are  wanting. 


MARLOWE.  It  was  Marlowe's^  self-appointed  task  to  win  the 

popular  ear 

From  jigging  veins  of  rhyming  mother  wits, 
And  such  conceits  as  clownage  keeps  in  pay 

to  the  '*  high  astounding  terms  "  of  the  stately  classical 
drama.     In  making   the    change — one   of  tremendous 

1  See  Appendix  I. 


on   EUzahaihan  Tragedy ^  59 

importance  for  the  English  drama — he  would  naturally 
select  those  features  of  classical  tragedy  which  would 
appeal  most  readily  to  popular  favour.  Seneca's  bombast 
and  violence  the  multitude  could  understand  ;  but  they 
would  not  submit  to  his  philosophical  disquisitions. 
Accordingly  we  find  in  Marlowe  few  of  the  sage 
reflections  with  which  Seneca  adorned  his  plays ; 
but  we  have  all  Seneca's  horror  of  incident  and  ex- 
aggeration of  expression.  What  Ulrici  says  of 
Marlowe  accurately  describes  Seneca's  tragic  style : 
"  In  his  hand,  the  forcible  becomes  the  forced, 
the  uncommon  the  unnatural,  whereas  the  grand  and 
sublime  degenerate  into  the  grotesque  and  monstrous. 

the  tragic  element  almost  invariably  degenerates 

into  the  horrible ;  with  him  the  essence  of  tragedy  does 
not  consist  in  the  fall  of  the  truly  noble,  great  and  lovely, 
as  occasioned  by  their  own  weakness,  one-sideness  and 
want  of  freedom,  but  in  the  annihilating  conflict  of  the 
primary  elements  of  human  nature,  the  blind  struggle 
between  the  most  vehement/ emotions  and  passions."^ 
Ulrici  may  be  deemed  a  prejudiced  critic ;  but  Mr.  J.  A. 
Symonds  will  assuredly  not  be  accused  of  any  lack  of 
appreciation.  He  says  of  Tamhurlaine :  "  Blood  flows  in 
rivers.  Shrieks  and  groans  and  curses  mingle  with 
heaven-defying  menaces  and  ranting  vaunts.  The 
action  is  one  tissue  of  violence  and  horror."  Mr. 
Symonds  modifies  this  unfavourable  judgement  with  the 
remark  that  "Marlowe  has  succeeded  in  saving  his  hero, 

1  Shakspeare's   Drmnatic   Art,    translated   by    L.    Dora    Schmitjs 
(1876),  I.  152. 


60  The  Injliience  of  Seneca 

amid  all  Lis  '  limes,'  from  caricature,  by  the  inbreathed 
spirituality  with  which  he  sustains  liis  madness  at 
its  height ; "  and  what  is  true  to  some  extent  of  Marlowe's 
bombast  is  still  more  true  of  his  use  of  the  horrible. 
Where  Seneca  would  be  simply  disgusting,  Marlowe 
reaches  the  topmost  height  of  tragic  power  ;  in  Edward  II, 
V.  5,  for  instance,  as  Dr.  Ward  remarks,  "the  unutterable 
horror  of  the  situation  is  depicted  without  our  sense  of 
the  loathsome  being  aroused."  Marlowe,  indeed, 
was  immeasureably  superior  to  Seneca,  both  as  a  poet 
and  a  dramatist,  and  in  his  hands  the  very  crudities  and 
faults  of  the  tragic  model  of  his  age  were  transformed  by 
the  transcendant  power  of  genius  till  they  often  become 
sublime  and  beautiful.  Even  where,  as  in  the  bombast 
of  Tamhiirlaine,  the  defect  is  only  hidden,  not  removed, 
by  the  genuine  poetic  spirit  inbreathed  into  the  whole, 
the  error  was  of  such  a  character  as  rather  to  commend 
itself  than  otherwise  to  the  audience  of  that  day,  with  its 
lust  for  violence  and  horror  ;  and  Seneca  may  fairly  claim 
some  portion  of  the  fame  which  Tamhiuiaine  has  won  as 
"  a  dramatic  poem  which  intoxicated  the  audience  of  the 
London  play-houses  with  indescribable  delight,  and  which 
inaugurated  a  new  epoch"^  in  the  history  of  the  English 
drama. 

PEELS.  Dr.  Ward  observes  that  Peele's  Battle  of  Alcazar 

"  naturally  suggests  a  comparison  with  Tamhwiaine,  which 
it  resembles  in  the  extravagance  of  expression — indeed 


Shakspere's  Predecessors,  p.  628. 


on   Elizahethan  Tragedij,  61 

the  rant— with  which  it  abounds ;  "  and  it  is  perhaps 
rather  to  the  influence  of  Marlowe  than  of  Seneca  that 
we  should  ascribe  the  resemblances  to  the  style  of  the 
Roman  tragedies  to  be  found  in  Peele.  It  should  be 
noted,  however,  that  in  the  prologue  to  The  Arraignment 
of  Far  is  (pr.  1684),  we  have  already  a  specimen  of  that 
grandiloquent  blank  verse  with  which  Tamhiuiaine  (pr. 
1590,  acted  before  1587)  caught  the  popular  ear : — 

Condemned  soul,  Ate,  from  lowest  hell, 
And  deadly  rivers  of  th'  infernal  Jove, 
Where  bloodless  ghosts  in  pains  of  endless  date 
Fill  ruthless  ears  with  never-ceasing  cries, 
Behold,  I  come. 

Peele  is  excessively  fond  of  the  infernal  machinery 
which  Seneca  so  often  brought  into  play,  and  in  The 
Battle  of  Alcazar  he  uses  it  again  and  again,  without  any 
regard  to  its  appropiateness.  Take  for  instance  the  last 
speech  of  the  Moor  : — 

Mount  me  I  will  : 

But  may  I  never  pass  the  river,  till  I  be 
Reveng  d  upon  thy  soul,  accursed  Abdelmelec  ! 
If  not  on  earth,  yet  when  we  meet  in  hell, 
Before  grim  Minos,  Rhadamauth,  and  Aeacus, 
The  combat  will  I  crave  upon  thy  ghost. 
And  drag  thee  thorough  the  loathsome  pools 
Of  Lethes,  Styx,  and  fiery  Phlegethon. 

In  this  play  Peele  carried  Marlowe's  bombast  beyond 
incoherence  into  positive  nonsense,  as  in  Act  I.  2: — 


62  The  Injluerwe  of  Seneca 

The  Moor.  Away,  and  let  me  hear  no  more  of  this. 
"Why,  boy, 

Are  we  successors  to  the  great  Abdallas 
Descended  from  th'  Arabian  Muly  Xarif, 
And  shall  we  be  afraid  of  Bassas  and  of  bugs, 
Raivhead  and  Bloodyhone  1  ^ 

Peele  has  Seneca's  gruesomeness  without  Marlowe's 
delicacy  of  treatment.  In  David  and  Bethsahc  Joab  thus 
dehvers  himself  as  to  the  dead  Absalom: — 

Night-ravens  and  owls  shall  ring  his  fatal  knell, 
And  sit  exclaiming  on  his  damned  soul ; 
There  shall  they  heap  their  preys  of  carrion, 
Till  all  his  grave  be  clad  with  stinking  bones, 
That  it  may  loathe  the  sense  of  every  man. 

Peele 's  imitation  of  Seneca's  dialogue  has  been 
already  noted.  ^ 


GREENE.  Greene^  imitated    Marlowe's   bombastic  style,  not 

very  successfully,  in  Alphonsus,  King  of  Arragou ;  but 
violence  and  extravagance  of  diction  were  alien  to  the 
spirit  of  his  muse,  for  of  all  the  predecessors  of  Shakspere 
he  had  the  lightest  touch  and  the  freshest  fancy,  bringing 
out  with  ease  and  naturalness  the  humour  and  pathos 
that  lie  in  simple  folk  and  ordinary  situations.     What  he 

1  In  this  and  the  preceding  quotation  I  have  adopted  the  reading 
of  Mr.  A.  H.  Bullen's  edition. 

2  See  p.  21. 

3  Greene  took  the  title  and   the  text  of  his  prose  tract,  Never  too 
Late,  from  Agamemnon  244  : — ■ 

Nam  sera  nunquam  est  ad  bonos  mores  uia. 


on  Elizaheth-an  Tragedy.  63 

did  borrow  of  Seneca  was  not  to  his  advantage.     The 
unseasonable  employment  of   Latin    mythology,  which 
Mr.   Symonds  notes  as  Greene's  main   stylistic  defect, 
should  probably  be  laid  to  the  joint  account  of  Seneca 
and  Ovid ;  Hercules  especially  is  introduced  with  painful 
frequency.     The  same  fault  is  to  be  vseen  in  The  First 
Part  of  the  Tragicall  Raigne  of  King  Selimus  fpr.    1594),  ^'^sseiimus. 
which  Dr.  Grosart  includes  in  his  edition  of  Greene's 
Works.     If  this  play  is  rightly  ascribed  to  Greene,  it   has 
an  interest  apart  from  its  intrinsic  merits.     It  bears  too 
plainly  the  stamp  of  Tamburlaine  not  to  have  been  written 
after  that    epoch-making  drama,  but   the   frequency  of 
rhymed  lines  and  other  marks  of  style  would  fix  it  as  one 
of  Greene's  earlier  plays.     It  contains  some  of  the  curious 
similes  after  Lyly's  manner  which  form  one  of  the  most 
striking  characteristics  of  Greene's  earlier  prose  style,  and 
are  also  to  be  found,  though  to  a  very  much  less  extent,  in 
his  tragedies.^   In  Sdimus  we  have  the  "  subtill  "Crocodile, 
the  Phoenix,  the  Echinaeis,  the  "  craftie  "  Polypus,  the 
Ibis,  the  Basilisk,  and  the  Cockatrice.     All  these  curious 
creatures  are  to  be  found  in  Greene's  prose  works  or 
tragedies,  the  Echinaeis  being  identified  by  Grosart  with 
the  Echinus  of  Alphonsus.     If  we  may  take  it  as  estab- 
lished that  this  is  an  early  play  of  Greene's,  we  have  the 
interesting  fact  that  Seneca  exerted  considerable  influence 
upon  his  style  in  the  early  part  of  his  career.     An  exami- 
nation of  Selimus  sho^vs   that   the   author  was   greatly 
influenced  by  Seneca.      The  play  opens  wdth  reflections 

1  e.  ff.  Alphonsus  (Grosart)  Vol.  xiii.,  p.  343,  lines  308-19 ;  p.  355 
11.  618-20. 


64  The  Influence  of  Seneca 

on  the  cares  and  uncertainty  of  empire  quite  in  the  style 
of  the  Eoman  dramatist  and  philosopher.  The  descrip- 
tion of  the  golden  age  may  be  paralleled  by  Hippohjtus 
533-557 ;  and  the  sceptical  reasoning  that  follows  by 
Troas  380-417.  Then  we  have  Sisyphus,  Ixion,  and 
"the  cave  of  damned  ghoasts"  with  which  Seneca  has 
made  us  familiar,  and  later  on  we  are  confronted  by  "  all 
the  damued  monsters  of  black  hell."  Seneca's  dialogue 
is  successfully  imitated,  and  sometimes  not  only  the 
style,  but  the  matter  also  is  borrowed  : — 

Aga.     Do  you  not  feare  the  people's  aduerse  fame  ? 
Acq.     It  is  the  greatest  glorio  of  a  king 

When,  though  his  subjects  hate  his  wicked  deeds, 

Yet  are  they  forst  to  beare  them  all  with  praise. 
Aga.     Whom  feare  constraines  to  praise  their  princes  deeds, 

That  feare,  eternall  hatred  in  them  feeds. 
Ago.     He  knowes  not  how  to  sway  the  kingly  mace, 

That  loues  to  be  great  in  his  peoples  grace  : 

The  surest  ground  for  kings  to  build  vpon, 

Is  to  be  fear'd  and  curst  of  eueiy  one. 

What,  though  the  world  of  nations  me  hate '? 

Hate  is  peculiar  to  a  princes  state. 
Aga.     Where  ther's  no  shame,  no  care  of  holy  law, 

No  faith,  no  iustice,  no  integritie, 

That  state  is  full  of  mutabilitie. 
Ago.     Bare  faith,  pure  vertue,  poore  integritie, 

Are  ornaments  fit  for  a  priuate  man ; 

Beseemes  a  prince  for  to  do  all  he  can. 

Compare  with  this  Thijestes  204-218  : — 

Sat.  fama  te  populi  nihil 

aduersa  terret  ? 


on  Elizabethan  Tragedy,  65 

Atr.  maximum  hoc  regni  bonum  ost, 

quod  facta  domini  cogitur  populus  sui 

quam  ferre  tam  laudare. 
Sat.  quos  cogit  metus 

laudare,  eosdem  reddit  inimicos  motus. 

at  qui  fauoris  gloriam  ueri  petit, 

animo  magis  quam  uoce  laudari  uolet.     * 
Atr.  laus  uera  et  humili  saepe  contingit  uiro, 

non  nisi  potenti  falsa,     quod  nolunt,  uelint. 
Sat.  rex  uelit  honesta  :  rxemo  non  eadem  uolet. 
Ate.  vbicuraque  tantum  honesta  dominanti  licent, 

precario  regnatur. 
Sat.  ubi  non  e^t  pudor, 

nee  eura  iuris,  sanctitaa  pietas  fides  : 

instabile  regnum  est. 
Atr.  sanctitas  pietas  fides 

priuata  bona  sunt,  qua  iuuat  reges  eant. 

Lines  1165-8  (p.  239)  may  be  compared  with  Her- 
cules Oetaeus  143-6,  and  1354-5  (p.  246)  with  Hercules 
Furens  517.  The  praises  of  a  country  Hfo  on  p.  270  may 
have  been  suggested  by  Hercxdes  Furens  160-4.  Some  of 
the  situations  may  also  have  been  suggested  by  Seneca, 
but  this  is  more  doubt fuL  The  young  Mahomet,  hke 
Astyanax  in  the  Troas,  is  cast  down  from  an  "  ayrie 
toure,"  but  with  this  additional  horror,  that  a  '*  groue  of 
steele-head  speares  "  is  prepared  for  his  reception.  In 
spite  of  this  refinement  of  cruelty,  the  youth  meets  death 
with  no  less  hardihood  than  the  son  of  Hector  : — 

Thou  shalt  not  fear  me,  Acomat,  with  death, 
Kor  will  I  beg  my  pardon  at  thy  hands. 
But  as  thou  giu'st  me  such  a  monstrous  death, 
So  do  I  freely  leaue  to  thee  my  curse. 


66  The  Influence  of  Seneca 

The  princess  Solyma  is  equally  brave ;  slie  prays  to 
be  slain  before  her  husband  Mustaffa,  that  she  may  not 
see  his  death ;  Amphitryon  in  the  Hercules  Fwens  asks  a 
like  boon  from  Lycus  with  respect  to  Megara  and  her 
children. 


SHAKSPBRE.  Shakspere  uudoubtedly  fell  under  the  influence 
both  of  the  rhetorical  drama  of  which  Marlowe  was  the 
fatherland  master,  and  of  the  "  tragedy  of  blood  "  which 
is  perhaps  better  represented  by  Kyd's  Spanish  Tragedy  ; 
but  whether  SLakspere  was  directly  indebted  to  Seneca 
.  is  a  question  as  difficult  as  it  is  interesting.  As  English 
tragedy  advance s ,  there  grows  up  an  accumulation  of 
Seneca  influence  within  the  English  drama  in  addition 
to  the  original  source,  and  it  becomes  increasingly  difficult 
to  distinguish  between  the  direct  and  the  indirect  in- 
fluence of  Seneca.  In  no  case  is  the  difficulty  greater 
than  in  that  of  Shakspere.  Of  Marlowe,  Jonson,  Chap- 
man, Marston,  and  Massinger  we  can  say  with  certainty 
that  they  read  Seneca,  and  reproduced  their  reading  in 
their  tragedies  ;  of  Middleton  and  Heywood  we  can  say 
with  almost  equal  certainty  that  they  give  no  sign  of 
direct  indebtedness  to  Seneca,  and  that  they  probably 
came  only  under  the  indirect  influence  through  the  imita- 
tions of  theii*  predecessors  and  contemporaries.  In  the 
case  of  Shakspere  we  cannot  be  absolutely  certain 
either  way.  Professor  Baynes  thinks  that  it  is  probable 
that  Shakspere  read  Seneca  at  school ;  and  even  if  he 
did  not,  we  may  be  sure  that  at  some  period  of  his 


on  EUzahethan  Tragedy.  67 

career  be  would  turn  to  the  generally  accepted  model 
of  classical  tragedy,  either  in  the  original  or  in  the 
translation.  The  decision  must,  however,  rest  upon  the 
internal  evidence  contained  in  the  plays  themselves,  and 
while  I  look  upon  this  as  pointing  very  plainly  to  an  ^ 
almost  certain  conclusion,  it  can  hardly  be  said  to  amount  j 
to  absolute  proof.  A  number  of  instances  have  be'^n 
already  quoted  in  which  Shakspere  might  have  been 
influenced  by  the  example  of  Seneca  ;  and  others  will  be 
given  ;  but  it  cannot  be  said  that  in  any  one  case  the 
resemblance  is  absolutely  convincing.  The  evidence 
must  be  taken  in  its  ciunulative  force,  and  tbat  must  be 
my  excuse  if  I  have  quoted  some  parallels  that  are  not 
very  obvious.  Another  scrap  of  evidence  is  to  be  found 
in  Shakspere's  mythology.  It  might  seem  absurd  to  Mythology. 
attach  any  importance  to  the  fact  that  Hercules,  Seneca's 
favourite  hero,  is  mentioned  by  Shakspere  about  fifty 
times ;  but  it  is  at  any  rate  not  without  significance  when 
an  obscure  character  such  as  Lichas  is  referred  to  at  the 
same  timo,  as  in  The,  Merchant  of  Venice,  TI.  1  and  Antony 
and  Cleopatra,  IV.  12.  The  latter  passage  is  perhaps 
worth  quoting  : — ■ 

The  shirt  of  Nossus  is  upon  me  :     Teach  me, 
Alcides,  thou  mine  ancestor,  thy  rage  : 
Let  me  lodge  Lichas  on  the  horns  o'  the  moon ; 
And  with  those  hands,  that  grasp'd  the  heaviest  club, 
Subdue  my  worthiest  self. 


At  first  sight  it  seems  more  than  likely  that  this  is 
from  Seneca ;  but  it  might  also  come  from  Ovid, 


68  The  Influence  of  Seneca 

Whether  Shalispere  used  the  translation  of  1581  is 
a  further  problem,  depending  on  the  solution  of  the  first 
A  passage  in  King  John,  III.  4  : — 

A  sceptre  snatch'd  with  an  unruly  hand 
Must  be  as  boisterously  maintain'd  as  gain'd  ; 
And  he  that  stands  upon  a  slippery  place 
Makes  nice  of  no  vile  hold  to  stay  him  up. 

is  not  unlike  Hercules  Furens  345-9  : — 

rapta  sed  trepida  manu 
sceptra  optinentur.     omnis  in  ferro  est  salus. 
quod  ciuibus  tenere  te  inuitis  scias, 
strictus  tuetur  ensis.     alieno  in  loco 
haut  stabile  regnum  est. 

If  the  reader  decides  that  the  resemblance  is  so  close 
as  to  imply  direct  connection,  the  conclusion  may  be  drawn 
that  Shakspere  usedthe  original,  and  not  the  translation, 
which  gives  quite  a  different  rendering  of  the  text : — 

— but  got  with  fearful  hand 
My  sceptors  are  obtaynd  :  in  sword  doth  all  my  safety  stand. 
What  thee  thou  wotst  agaynst  the  will  of  cytesyns  to  get, 
The  bright  drawne  sword  must  it  defend  :  in  forrayne  countrey  set 
No  stable  kingdome  is. 

The  Shaksperean  "maintain  "  is  more  correct  than 
tlie  professed  translation ;  Pierrot  shows  that  optinentur  =: 
retinentiir,  seruantur.  The  Shaksperean  version  of  trepida 
manu  is  more  doubtful,  but  it  is  supported  by  some 
authorities.      Pierrot  quotes  a  paraphrase  which  runs, 


on  Etizahethan  Tragedy, 


69 


(( 


Qui  genus  iactat  suum,  aliena,  laudat ;  at  qui  sceptrum 
rapuit,  ei  laborandum  et  uigilaiidum  est,  ut  ui  partum  ui 
retineat." 


The  problem  of  Shaksperc's  relation  to  Seneca  is 
further  complicated  by  questions  of  authorship.  If  we 
could  accept  Tihis  Amlronicus  as  written  wholly 
by  Shakspere,  all  difficulty  would  be  at  an  end, 
for  the  Latin  quotations  from  Seneca^  set  every 
doubt  at  rest.  Even  without  this  direct  testimony, 
the  internal  evidence  is  sufficiently  striking.  The  subject 
and  stylo  of  the  tragedy  are  thoroughly  Senecan.  It  is 
made  up  of 

murders,  rapes,  and  massacres, 
Acts  of  black  night,  abominable  deeds, 
Complots  of  mischief,  treason,  villanics.     (V.  1) 


Andronicut. 


/ 


No  detail  of  physical  horror  is  spared  ;  from  begin- 
ning to  end  the  stage  reeks  with  blood,  and  the  characters 
vie  with  one  another  in  barbarity.  Even  the  gentle 
Lavinia  helps  to  prepare  the  Thyestean  banquet;  and 
Titus  and  his  sons  are  no  less  eager  for  revenge,  and  no 
less  cruel  in  its  execution,  than  Tamora  and  Aaron.  The 
style  exaggerates  even  these  heaped-up  horrors,  and  the 
passions  are  often  strained  to  artificiality.  The  descrip- 
tions of  rural  life  and  scenery,  which  relieve  the  sanguinary 
picture  to  some  extent,  are  not  strange  to  Seneca.     The 


1    See  Appendix  I. 


70  The  Injluence  of  Seneca 

hunting  scene  (II.  2)  might  be  suggested  by  the  opening^ 
of  the  Hippohjtusj  and  the  hnes  in  II.  3  : — 

The  birds  chant  melody  on  every  bush ; 
The  snake  lies  rolled  in  the  cheerful  sun  ; 
The  green  leaves  quiver  with  the  cooling  wind, 

may  be  compared  with  Hippohjtus  51b'-8: — • 

hie  aues  querulae  freriiunt 
ramique  uentis  lene  percussi  tremunt 
ueteresque  fagi. 

The  description  of  the  ''  barren  detested  vale,"  the 
scene  of  the  murder  of  Bassianus  and  the  rape  of  Lavinia, 
reminds  us  of  the  place  where  Atreus  sacrificed  his 
nephews.     Thyestes  650-5  : — 

arcana  in  imo  regia  recessu  patet, 
alta  uetustum  ualle  conpescens  nemus, 
penetrale  regni,  nulla  qua  laetos  solet 
praebere  ramos  arbos  aut  ferro  coli, 
sed  taxus  et  cupressus  et  nigra  ilice 
obscura  nutat  silua. 

The  trees,  though  summer,  yet  forlorn  and  lean, 
O'ercorae  with  moss  and  baleful  mistletoe  : 
Here  never  shines  the  sun  ;  here  nothing  breeds, 
Unless  the  nightly  owl  or  fatal  raven. 

For  the  last  touch  in  this  dark  picture  see  Hercules 
Furens  690-2  :— 

palus  inertis  foeda  Cocyti  iacet. 
hie  uultur  illic  luctifer  bubo  gemit 
omenque  tristis  resonat  infaustae  strigis. 


on   Elizahethan  Tragedy.  71 

They  told  me,  here,  at  dead  time  of  the  night, 
A  thousand  fiends,  a  thousand  hissing  snakes, 
Ten  thousand  swelling  toads,  as  many  urchins, 
Would  make  such  fearful  and  confused  cries, 
As  any  mortal  body  heaving  it 
Should  straight  fall  mad,  or  else  die  suddenly. 


So  Thijestes  G68-673  :— 


hie  nocte  tota  gemere  fcralis  deos 
fama  est,  catenis  lucus  excussis  sonat 
ululantque  manes,     quicquid  audire  est  metus, 
illic  uidetur  :  errat  antiquis  uetus 
emissa  bustis  turba  et  insultant  loco 
maiora  notis  monstra. 


Among  minor  dramatic  devices  used  by  Seneca  we 
may  note  Lavinia's  plea  for  death,  and  Quintus  and 
Martius's  presentiment  of  coming  destruction  (II.  3), 
Seneca's  reflective  tendency  is  strongly  marked  in  this 
play,  and  we  have  a  number  of  "  brief  sententious  pre- 
cepts" like  those  with  which  Seneca  adorned  his 
gruesome  themes.     Tamora's  plep,  (I.  1) : — 

Andronicus,  stain  not  thy  tomb  with  blood. 
Wilt  thou  draw  near  the  nature  of  the  gods  ? 
Draw  near  them  then  in  being  merciful : 
Sweet  mercy  is  nobility's  true  badge. 

may  be  compared  with  the  considerations  urged  by 
Agamemnon  on  a  like  occasion,  when  Pyrrhus  sought 
to  appease  his  father's  ghost  by  the  sacrifice  of  Polyxena. 
Compare  also  the  passage  (I.  1) ; — 


i- 


72  The  Influence  of  Seneca 

In  peace  and  honour  rest  you  here,  my  sons ; 

Rome's  readiest  champions,  repose  you  here  in  rest, 

Secure  from  wordly  chances  and  mishaps  ! 

Here  lurks  no  treason,  here  no  envy  swells. 

Here  grow  no  damned  drugs  ;  ^  here  are  no  storms, 

No  noise,  but  silence  and  eternal  sleep  : 

In  peace  and  honour  rest  you  here,  my  sons  ! 

with  the  Chorus  m  the  Troas  151-6,  166-8  :— 

FELIX  PRIAMUS  dicitc  cunctae. 
liber  manes  uadit  ad  imos 
nee  feret  umquam 
uincta  Graium  ceruice  iugum. 
non  ille  duos  uidit  Atridas 
nee  fallacem  cernit  Vlixem. 


nunc  elysii  nemoris  tutus 
errat  in  umbris 
interque  pias  felix  animas 
Hcctora  quaerit.     felix  priamus. 


It  is  remarkable  that  the  passages  which  challenge 
comparison  with  Seneca  are  the  very  ones  in  which  we 
should  be  readiest  to  recognize  the  hand  of  Shakspere.  >/ 

Henry  vi  Critical  difficulties  again  confront  us  in  the  consider- 

ation of  the  three  parts  of  Hennj  VI,  and  Richard  III;  but 
the  opinions  of  competent  critics  differ  so  widely  that  it 
would  be  useless  for  me  to  enter  into  the  discussion  as  to 
the  authorship  of  Henry  VI,  and  the  relation  thereto  of  the 

^  I  adhere,  as  elsewhere,  to  the  text  of  The  Camhridye   Shaken, 
peare  ;  "  grudges  "  seems  to  me  the  better  reading. 


and 


on  EUzahethcm  Tragedy.  73 

two  parts  of  The  Contention  between,  the  two  Famous  Houses 
of  York  and  Lancaster.  It  would  be  equally  unwise  for  me 
to  attempt  to  set  at  rest  (he  doubts  recently  raised  by  James 
Russell  LowelP  as  to  the  authorsliip  of  jR/c/iajY^  III ;  Imohanim. 
have  nothing  of  importance  to  add  to  the  evidence  of 
genninenesss,  and  what  I  have  to  say  as  to  the  connection 
with  Seneca  would  probably  lead  critics  of  different  views 
to  different  inferences.  I  am,  however,  concerned,  not 
with  the  conclusions  that  may  be  drawn,  but  with  the  fact 
that  Henry  VI  (especially  Part  iii)  and  Richard  III  have 
much  in  common  with  Seneca.  They  are  pervaded  by 
the  ruthless  spirit  of  violence  and  bloodshed,  and  abound 
in  the  crude  horrors  of  physical  repulsiveness,  such  as 
the  bringing  of  Suffolk's  mu  tilated  body  on  to  the  stage 
(2  Henry  VI,  IV.  1),  and  the  subsequent  introduction  of 
Queen  Margaret  with  the  head  in  her  hands  (IV.  4).  Iden 
brings  on  the  stage  Cade's  head  {2  Henry  VI,  V.  1),  and 
Richard  that  of  Somerset  (3. 1.  1).  All  through  The  Third 
Part  of  Henry  VI,  and  Richard  III,  the  slaughter  is  con- 
tinuous, and  accompanied  by  circumstances  of  great  in- 
hamanity,  as  witness  the  mock  crowning  of  York  before 
his  death,  and  the  murders  of  Rutland  and  the  young 
Prince  of  Wales.  The  murder  of  the  young  princes  in 
Richard  III  is  only  narrated,  and  the  executions  in  this 
play  generally  take  place  off  the  stage,  only  Clarence 
and  Richard  himself  dying  in  sight  of  the  audience  ; 
but  the  personages  of  the  drama  move  in  the  same 
atmosphere  of   blood,  and   Richard  above  all   sustains 


1  In  an  article  in  the  Atlantic  Monthly  for  December,  1891. 


74  The  Influence  of  Seneca 

to  the  full  his  character  of  fiendish  cruelty.  He  has  the 
vindictiveness,  the  intellectual  force,  the  undaunted  spirit, 
the  ruthless  cruelty,  the  absolute  lack  of  moral  feeling  of 
Seneca's  Medea,  coupled  with  the  haughtmess  of  Eteocles, 
and  the  bloody  hyj)ocrisy  of  Atreus  ;  as  with  Seneca's 
heroic  criminals,  his  passions  know  no  hounds — he  is  not 
human,  but  praeternatural.  And  what  is  true,  in  its 
fullest  sense,  of  the  "  cacodaemon,"  Eichard,  is  true  in  a 
less  degree  of  the  minor  characters.  Queen  Margaret 
and  Clifford  vie  with  Richard  himself  in  merciless  cruelty. 
Edward,  then  Earl  of  March,  says  in  3  Hcnnj  VI,  I.  2  :^ 

But  for  a  kingdom  any  oath  may  be  broken  : 

I  would  break  a  thousand  oaths  to  reign  one  year. 

just  as  Polynices,  under  similar  circumstances,  says  in 
111  eh  a  is  664  : — 

imperia  pretio  quolibet  constant  bene. 

The  same  exaggeration  of  expression  is  to  be  noted 
in  the  next  scene,  where  Clifford  savs  to  Rutland : — • 

Had  I  thy  brethren  here,  their  lives  and  thine 
Were  not  revenge  sufficient  for  me ; 
No,  if  I  digg'd  up  thy  forefathers'  graves, 
And  hung  their  rotten  coffins  up  in  chains, 
It  could  not  slake  mine  ire,  nor  case  rny  heart. 
The  sight  of  any  of  the  house  of  York 
Is  as  a  fury  to  torment  my  soul ; 
And  till  I  root  oat  their  accursed  line 
And  leave  not  one  alive,  I  live  in  hell. 

Even  the  quiet  Henry  gives  way  to  the  prevailing 


&n   Elizabethan  Tragedy.  75 

excaggeration  of  tone  when  he  falls  iu  love,  and  expresses 
his  passion  with  the  ardour  of  a  Phaedra.  1  Henry  F7, 
V.  5 :— 

Your  wondrous  rare  description,  noble  earl, 
Of  beauteous  Margaret  hath  astonish'd  rae  : 
Her  virtues  graced  with  external  gifts 
Dq  breed  love's  settled  passions  in  my  heart : 
And  like  as  rigour  of  tempestuous  gasts 
Provokes  the  mightiest  hulk  against  the  tide, 
So  am  I  driven  by  breath  of  her  renown, 
Either  to  suffer  shipwreck  or  arrive 
Where  I  may  have  fruition  of  her  love. 

'J  his  "  wind  and  tifle"  metaphor  is  a  favourite  cue 
with  hotli  Seneca  and  Shakspere.  In  the  two  following 
passages  it  is  substantially  the  same.     3  Henry  VI,  II.  5 : 

This  battle  fares  like  to  the  morning's  war, 
When  dying  clouds  contend  with  growing  light, 


Now  sways  it  this  way,  like  a  mighty  sea 
Forced  by  the  tide  to  combat  with  the  wind ; 
Now  sways  it  that  way,  like  the  selfsame  sea 
Forced  to  retire  by  fury  of  the  wind  : 
Sometime  the  flood  prevails,  and  then  the  wind ; 
Now  one  the  better,  then  another  best ; 
Both  tugging  to  be  victors,  breast  to  breast, 
Yet  neither  conqueror  nor  conquered. 

fluctibus  uariis  agor, 
ut,  cum  hinc  profundum  uentus  hinc  aestua  rapit, 
incerta  dubitat  unda  cui  cedat  malo. 

(^Agamemnon  139-141.) 


76  The  Injiuence  of  Seneca 

In  this  case  it  seems  worth  while  to  subjoin  Studley's 
translation  (pub.  1566) : — 

As  when  here  wynd,  and  their  the  streame  when  both  their  foi'ce 
wil  tiy, 

From  sandes  alow  doth  hoyst  and  rears  the  seas  with  surges  hye. 

The  waltring  wane  doth  staggeryng  stand  not  weting  what  to  do, 

But  (houeryng)  doubtes,  whose  furious  force  he  best  may  yeld 
him  to. 

Compare  also  3  Hennj  VI,  II.  6 : — 

As  doth  a  sail,  fiU'd  with  a  fretting  gust. 
Command  an  ai-gosy  to  stem  the  waves. 

with  Hippolyt'us  186-9,  and  Tlujestes  438-9. 

£ome  of  Seneca's  leading  ideas  are  repeatedly  re- 
produced in  these  plays.  All  the  more  important  cha- 
racters are  tinged  with  Seneca's  Stoical  fatalism.  His 
"  fatis  agimur,  cedite  fatis"  is  exjoressed  by  King  Edward 
in  3  Henrij  VI,  IV.  3,  with  the  metaphor  just  spoken  of: 

What  fates  impose,  that  men  must  needs  abide ; 
It  boots  not  to  resist  both  wind  and  tide. 

So  too  Queen  Margaret  in  3  Hcnnj  VI,  Y.  4  : — 

What  cannot  be  avoided 
'Twere  childish  weakness  to  lament  or  fear. 

and  Richard,  in  the  course  of  a  dialogue  containing  many 
examples  of  Senecan  stichomythia  (Richard  III,  IV.  4), 
says  with  all  the  impressive  conciseness  of  the  Roman 
dramatist  and  philosopher — 

All  unavoided  is  the  doom  of  destiny. 


on  EUzahethan  ^rageihj.  77 

The  cares  and  risks  of  high  places  and  the  benefits 
of  ohscurity  are  urged  as  frequently  in  these  pLays  as  in 
the  tragedies  of  Seneca,  and  in  much  the  same  strain. 
Queen  Margaret's  words  in  Richard  III,  I.  3  : — 

They  that  stand  high  have  many  blasts  to  shake  them. 

may  be  compared  with  Hippohjtus  1136-1140,  Agamemnon 
57-9,  and  Oedipns  6-11.  Henry  resigns  the  crown,  as  he 
says  (3.  IV.  6)— 

that  I  may  conquer  fortune's  spite 
By  living  low,  where  fortune  cannot  hurt  me. 

Compare  Hercules  Furens  201-4,  and  Hercules  Oetaeus 
701-3.  K  much  longer  and  more  important  passage — 
too  long  for  quotation — in  3  Henrij  VI,  II.  5,  describing 
the  advantages  of  a  shepherd's  life  over  a  king's,  may  be 
compared  with  Hippohjtus  516-533,  Thyestes  450-3,  and 
Hercules  Oetaeus  647-661 ;  and  Henry's  words  on  true 
kingship  (3.  III.  1)  remind  us  of  Thyestes  388-390. 

Another  idea  frequently  put  forward  by  Seneca  and 
by  Shakspere  is  that  of  the  presentiment  of  evil.^  We 
have  a  fairly  close  parallel  in  Richard  III,  II.  3  : — 


By  a  divine  instinct  men's  minds  mistrust 
Ensuing  dangers ;  as,  by  proof,  we  sec 
The  waters  swell  before  a  boisterous  storm. 


^'H^^^U^ 


1  See  Thyestes  417  490  and  946-973;  Hercides  Oetaeus  720-5. 
We  have  the  same  idea  in  Romeo  mid  Juliet  I.  4,  ad  fin.  and  III.  5  ; 
and  Richard  II,  II  2. 


78  The  Infiumce  of  Seneca 

2,i\diThjestesmiA\~ 

mibtit  luctus  sigua  futuri 
mens  ante  sui  presaga  mali, 
instat  nautis  fera  temjDestas, 
cum  sine  uento  tranquilla  tument. 

To  tliis  may  be  added  another  commouplace  of 
morality  which  occurs  more  than  once  in  each  poet. 
Richard  III,  IV.  2:  — 

Uncertain  way  of  gain  I  But  I  am  in 
So  far  in  blood  that  sin  will  pluck  on  sin. 

Agamemnon  116  : — -. 

per  scelera  semper  sceleribus  tutum  est  iter. 

Theodor  Vatke  ^  has  suggested  a  comparison  between 
the  wooing  of  Lady  Anne  by  Gloucester  and  that  of 
Megara  by  Lycus.  In  the  same  way  we  might  seek  a 
parallel  for  the  conjuration  of  the  Spirit  in  2  Hennj  IT, 
I.  4  in  the  raising  of  the  shade  of  Laius ;  and  in  the 
same  passage  from  the  Oedipus  we  might  endeavour  to 
discover  a  suggestion  of  the  appearance  of  the  ghosts  in 
Clarence's  dream.  But  how  wide  is  the  galf  between 
the  mythical  figures  of  Seneca  and  the  living  spirits  of 
Shakspere;  instead  ot  Zethus  and  Amphion,  Niobe  and 
Agave,  we  have  tl^e  ghosts  of  those  whom  Clarence  had 
wronged,  among  them 

A  shadow  like  an  anscei,  with  bright  hair 


»^') 


Dabbled  in  blood ;  and  he  squeak'd  out  aloud, 


Jahrbuch  der  Deutschen  Shakespeare  GesellsclMft,  IV.  p.  64. 


mi  Elizabethan  Tragedy,  79 

"Clarence  is  come  ;  false,  fleeting,  perjured  Clarence, 
That  stabb'd  me  in  the  field  by  Tewksbury  : 
Seize  on  hiui,  Euiies,  take  him  to  your  torments  ! " 

The  difference  is  so  great — it  is  the  world-wide 
difference  between  art  and  artifice — that  any  sHght 
resemblance  is  quite  overshadowed  by  our  sense  of  the 
immeasureable  superiority  of  Shakspere's  picture.  With 
more  justice,  perhaps,  we  might  compare  the  lament  of 
the  Duchess  of  York  {Richard  III,  11.  2)  :— 

Alas,  I  am  the  mother  of  these  moans  ! 
Their  woes  are  parcell'd,  mine  are  general. 
She  for  an  Edward  weeps,  and  so  do  I 


with  that  of  Hecuba  in  Troas  1070-2  :— 

quoscumque  luctus  fleueris,  flebis  meos. 

sua  quemque  tantum,  me  omnium  olades  premit, 

mihi  cuncta  pereunt,  quisquis  est  Hecubae  est  miser. 


(^  Hamlet  marks  the  climax  of  the  reflective  tendency  f«w.w. 

]  in  Shakspere  and  in  the  English  drama,  though  coupled, 
as  in  Seneca,  with  a  full  complement 


Of  carnal,  bloody  and  unnatural  acts.  (V.  2.)  ^ 

Knight  has  observed  that  in  the  latter  characteristic 
Hamlet  is  connected  with  the  school  of  Titus  Andronicus ; 
but  whether  this  is  due  to  an  old  Hamlet  which  was  not 
Shakspere's,  or  the  earlier  Hamlet  which  is  referred  to  by 
Nash  was  written  by  Shakspere  at  a  time  when  he  was 
still  under  the  influence  of  Senecan  tragedy,  is  too  large 
a  question  to  be  discussed  here.    In  its  ultimate  form 


80  The  Influence  of  Seneca 

the  play  still  contains  some  slight  reminiscences  of  Seneca, 
though  we  shall  look  in  vain  for  the  "  whole  handfulls  " 
of  tragical  speeches  sneered  at  by  Nash  as  borrowed  from 
the  Enghsh  translation.  In  Klein's  opinion  the  appear- 
ance of  the  Ghost  of  Laius  ni  the  Oedipus  forms  *' no 
unworthy  study  "  for  the  famous  scene  '^  on  the  platform 
before  the  castle  ;  "  but  of  Shakspere's  ghost-scene  there 
is  nothing  to  be  found  in  Seneca  beyond  the  very  baldest 
suggestion.  With  greater  justice  Mr.  H.  A.  J.  Munro  ^ 
says  that 

the  dread  of  something  after  death. 
The  undiscover'd  country  from  whose  bourn 
No  traveller  returns 

has  not  a  little  in  common  with  Hercules  Furens  8GS  870 
and  Hercules  Oetaeiis  152d-15Sl: — 

sera  nos  illo  referat  senectus. 

nemo  ad  id  sero  uenit  unde  numquam, 

cum  semel  ucnit,  potuit  reuerti. 

die  ad  aeternos  properare  manes 
Herculem  et  regnum  canis  inquieti 
unde  non  unquam  remeauit  ullus. 

Indeed  the  whole  of  Hamlet's  famous  soliloquy  may 
be  said  to  arise  out  of  the  question  in  Troas  380-1  : — 

verum  est,  an  timidos  fabula  decipit, 
umbras  corporibus  uiuere  conditio. 

1  Journal  of  Philology,  VI.  p.  70, 


on   EUzahethan  Tragedij,  8l 

Compare  also  IV.  3 

Diseases  desperate  grown 
By  desperate  appliance  are  relieved, 
Or  not  at  all. 

with  Aijanwniioii  153-5  : — ■ 

Clyt.  et  ferrum  et  ignis  saepa  maiicinae  loco  est. 
NvTR.  extrema  primo  nemo  temptauit  loco. 
Clyt.  capienda  rebus  in  raalis  praocep'i  uia  est. 

We  Lave  Seneca's  notion  of  presentiment  and  his 
Stoical  fatahsm  in  V.  2  : — ^"  if  it  be  now,  'tis  not  to  come  ; 
if  it  be  not  to  come,  it  will  be  now  ;  if  it  be  not  now,  yet 
it  will  come  :  the  readiness  is  all ;  since  no  man  has  aught   ,     ^  'j    "^Z 
of  what  he  leaves,  what  is't  to  leave  betimes  ?  "  „^  ^  y\M^<f^^ 

It  is  again  the  hand_of^  fatSj  or  rath^  the  hand  of 
chance,  that  brings  about  the  catastrophe,  with  its  "  acci- 
dental judgements,  casaal  slaughters"  and  "purposes 
mistook  faU'n  on  the  inventors'  heads." 

J  As  in  Hamlet,  the  reflective  element  in  Machdli  arises  MaAeh, 
from  no  lack  of  desperate  deeds.  Fj-om  the  Murder 
of  Duncan,  which  is  described  with  every  detail  of 
horror,  there  is  a  continuous  outpour  of  blood 
until  in  the  last  scene  the  head  of  Macbeth  is  brought 
on  the  stage.  But  in  Macheth,  as  in  Seneca,  we  have 
a  Jiorrible  theme  treated  in  such  a  way  as  to 
gire  frequent  occasion  for  deep  reflection.  It  should  be 
noted   fLirth(^r    that   in    Macheth   Shakspere's    reflective 


82  The  Influence  of  Seneca 

tendency  is  displa3'ed  more  after  the  manner  of  Seneca 
tlmn  in  Hamlet.  Hamlet's  fondness  for  reflection  is  part 
— a  yerj^  important  part — of  his  cliaracter.  In  Macbeth 
the  reflections  are  uttered  not  hy  one  character  alone, 
but  by  almost  all ;  and  not  in  long  soliloquies,  but  in 
brief,  pregnant  sentences,  quite  after  Seneca's  manner^ 
In  some  instances  the  ideas  expressed  bear  considerable 
similarity  to  those  of  Seneca.     Thus  I.  7  : — 

We  but  teach 
Bloody  instructions,  which  being  taught  return 
To  plague  the  inventor  :  this  even-handed  justice 
Commends  the  ingredients  of  our  poison'd  chalice 
To  our  own  lips, 

quod  quisque  fecit,  patitur.     auctorem  scelus 
repetit  suoque  premitur  exemplo  nocens. 

(Hercules  Furens  739-740.) 

IV.  3. : —     Give  sorrow  words :  the  grief  that  does  not  speak 
Whispers  the  o'erfraught  heart,  and  bids  it  break. 

curae  leues  loquuntur  ingentes  stupent. 

(Hippolytiis  615.) 

Y.  3  : —        I  have  lived  long  enough :  my  way  of  life 
Is  fall'n  into  the  sear,  the  yellow  leaf, 
And  that  which  should  accompany  old  age, 
As  honour,  love,  obedience,  troops  of  friends, 
I  must  not  look  to  have. 

cur  animam  in  ista  luce  detineam  amplius 
morerque  nihil  est.     cuncta  iam  amisi  bona  : 
mentem  anna  famam  coniugem  gnatos  manus 
etiara  furorem.     (Hercules  Furens  1265-8.) 


on  Elizahetkan  Tnigedij.  83 

Compare  further  the  lines  that  follow 

Caust  thou  not  raiuister  to  a  mind  diseased 


with  the  continuation  of  the  passage  in  Hercules  Furens : — 

nemo  polluto  queat 
animo  mederi.^ 


IV.  2  : —         Things  at  the  worst  will  cease^  or  else  climb  upward 
To  what  they  wer-e  before 

with  Thchais  198-9  :— 

cuius  haud  ultra  mala 
exire  possunt  in  loco  tuto  est  situs. 

and  Oedipus  855  : — 

tuto  mouetur  quicqurd  extremo  in  loco  est. 

II.  4  : —      Thou  see'st,  the  heavens,  as  troubled  with  man's  act, 
Threaten  his  bloody  stage  :  by  the  clock  'tis  day 
And  yet  dark  night  strangles  the  travelling  lamp  : 
Is't  night's  predominance,  or  the  day's  shame, 
That  darkness  does  the  face  of  earth  entomb, 
Whon  living  light  should  kiss  it  1 

We  have  the  same  idea  in  Agamemnon  763-4  : — • 

fugit  lux  alma  et  obscurat  genas 
nox  alta  et  aether  obditus  tenebris  latet. 

and  in  the  fourth  Chorus  of  the  TJnjestes. 

Compare  also  the  apostrophe  to  sleep  in  II.  2  with 


1  The  Doctor  in  Tivo  Noble  Kinsmen,  IV.  3,  says  "I  think  she  has 
a  perturbed  minde,  which  I  cannot  minister  to." 


84  The  hfliicnce  of  Seneca 

Hercules  Fiirens  1071-1081,  and  note  the  splendid  develope- 
nient  of  the  eulogy  of  the  rest  of  the  grave,  already 
remarked  in  Titns  Androniciis ; — 

Duncan  is  in  his  grave  ; 
After  life's  fitful  fever  he  sleeps  well ; 
Treason  has  done  his  worst :  nor  steel,  nor  poison, 
Malice  domestic,  foreign  levy,  nothing, 
Can  touch  him  further. 

Then  we  have  II.  1 : — 

Will  all  great  Neptune's  ocean  wash  this  blood 
Clean  from  my  hand  ? 

quis  eluet  me  Tanais  ?     aut  quae  barbaris 
maeotis  undis  pontico  incumbens  mari  ? 
non  ipse  toto  magnus  oceano  pater 
tantum  expiarit  sceleris.     (^Hi^^polytus  723-6). 

quis  Tanais  aut  quis  Nilus  aut  quis  persica 

uiolentus  unda  Tigris  aut  Rhenus  ferox 

Tagusne  hibera  turbidus  gaza  Huens, 

abluere  dextram  potei'it  ?     arctoum  licet 

Maeotis  in  me  gelida  transfundat  mare 

et  tota  Tethys  per  meas  currat  manus  : 

haerebit  altum  facihus.     (Hercules  Furens  1330-6.) 


The  last  is  a  parallel  which  has  attracted  the  attention 
of  many  readers  of  Seneca  and  Shakspere^  and  vv'as  appar- 
ently first  placed  on  record  hy  Lessing  in  the  Theatralische 
Bihliothek  (1754).  It  may  be,  too,  that  in  this  passage  of 
Seneca  Shakspere  found  the  suggestion  of  that  blood- 


011   J^lizahethan  Tragedy,  85 

stained  little  hand  which  forms  so  impressive  a  feature 
ill  the  famous  sleep-walking  scene. ^ 

y^  King  Lear  is  farther  removed  than  Machetli  from  the  King  uar. 
spirit  of  Senecan  tragedy ;  but,  in  addition  to  wholesale 
slaughter  and  physical  horrors  such  as  the  putting  out  of 
Gloster's  eyes,  it  contains  some  resemblances  worth 
noting.  We  have  Seneca's  hopeless  fatalism,  not  only  in 
the  catastrophe,  but  repeatedly  brought  forward  in  the 
course  of  the  play.  Gloster  in  his  blindness  says 
(IV.  I) :- 

As  flies  to  wanton  boys  are  we  to  the  gods ; 
They  kill  us  for  their  sport. 

Kent  in  IV.  3  : — 

It  is  the  stars, 
The  stars  above  us,  govern  our  conditions-. 


1  The  idea  was  pi'obably  suggested  to  Seneca  by  Aeschylus  Choe'pUoroe 
63-5,  which  is  so  corrupt  in  the  sole  authoritative  MS.  now  extant  that 
only  the  general  drift  of  the  passage  can  be  determined.  Plumptre's 
translation  runs  : — 

and  water  streams, 
Though  all  in  common  course 
Should  flow  to  cleanse  the  guilt 
Of  murder  that  the  sin-stained  hand  defiles. 

Would  yet  flow  all  in  vain 

That  guilt  to  purify. 

Paley  in  a  note  says  "  there  can  be  no  doubt that  water  is 

'meant,  the  usual  purification  in  murder."  See  also  Sophocles  Ajax 
654-6,  and  the  Scholiast's  Note  thereon,  stating  that  it  was  the  custom 
of  the  ancients  to  cleanse  the  pollution  of  murder  by  washing  the 
hands.     Cf.  Ovid  Fasti  II.  45-6  :— 

Ah  nimium  faciles,  qui  tristia  crimina  caedis 
Fluminea  tolli  posse  putetis  aqua. 


86  The  Influence  of  Seneca 

and  Edgar  in  V.  2  : — 

Men  must  endure 
Their  going  hence,  even  as  their  coming  liither  : 
Ripeness  is  all. 


7 

Compare  also  III.  6  : — 


When  we  our  betters  see  bearing  our  woes, 
We  scarcely  think  our  miseries  our  foes. 
W^ho  alone  sutlers,  suffers  most  i'  the  mind ; 
Leaving  free  things,  and  happy  shows,  behmd : 
But  then  the  mind  much  suffering  doth  o'er-skip, 
When  grief  hath  mates,  and  bearing  fellowship. 

with  Troas  1019-1035 ;  and  IV.  1 :— 

To  be  worst, 
The  lowest  and  most  dejected  thing  of  fortune, 
Stands  still  in  esperance,  lives  not  in  fear : 
The  lamentable  change  is  from  the  best, 
The  worst  returns  to  laughter. 

with  Thehais  198-9  and  Oedq)as  855  ah'eady  quoted/    Also 
IV.  6:— 

Better  I  were  distract : 
So  should  my  thoughts  be  sover'd  from  my  griefs  ; 
And  woes,  by  wrong  imaginations  lose 
The  knowledge  of  themselves. 

uel  sit  potius 

mens  uaesano  concita  motu. 

solus  te  iam  praestare  potest 

furor  insonttem.     proxima  puris 

sors  est  manibus  nescire  nefas.     (Hercules  Furens  1100-5.) 

'"  -  -      II  '     —  -      ■■-—---—        --       - -  ■        ■    ■     .  -  - .  .  —     ■-.-.■       . ■ 

1  See  p.  83. 


on   'Elizabethan  Tragedy,  87 

We  tread  again  on  doubtful   ground  in  Edward  III,  ^'^"""''^  '^^ 
although  this  fine  play  has  been  ascribed  to  Shakspere  by 
very  good  authorities.^    In  any  case,  the  following  com- 
parision  is  interesting.     Act  IV.4 : — 

To  die  is  all  as  common  as  to  live ; 

The  one  in  choice,  the  other  holds  in  chaee  : 

For,  from  the  instant  we  begin  to  live, 

We  do  pursue  and  hunt  the  time  to  die  : 

First  bud  we,  then  we  blow,  and  after  seed  ; 

Then,  presently,  we  fall ;  and,  as  a  shade 

Follows  the  body,  so  we  follow  death. 

If  then  we  hunt  for  death,  why  do  we  fear  it? 

If  we  do  fear  it,  why  do  we  follow  it  ? 

If  we  do  fear,  with  fear  we  do  but  aid 

The  thing  we  fear  to  seize  on  us  the  sooner  : 

If  we  fear  not,  then  no  resolved  proffer 

Can  overthrow  the  limit  of  our  fate  : 

For,  whether  ripe  or  rotten,  drop  we  shall, 

As  we  do  draw  the  lottery  of  our  doom. 

omnia  certo  tramite  uadunt 

primusque  dies  dedit  extremum. 

non  ilia  deo  uertisse  licet 

quae  nexa  suis  currunt  causis. 

it  cuique  ratus  prece  non  ulla 

mobilis  ordo. 

multis  ipsum  timuisse  nocet. 

multi  ad  fatum  uenere  suum 

dum  fata  timent.  (Oedipus  1008-1016.) 

Compare  also  V.  1 : — 

For  what  the  sword  cuts  down,  or  fire  hath  spoiled, 
Is  held  in  reputation  none  of  ours. 

1   See  Dr.  Ward's  History  of  Dramatic  literature,  I.  456. 


88  The  Inflimice  of  Seneca 

with  T/j('6r/w  559-5C2 :— 

quin  tuae  causae  nocel 
ipsum  hoc  quod  armis  uertis  infestis  solum 
segetesque  adustas  sternis  et  totos  fugam 
edis  per  agros  :  nemo  sic  uastat  sua. 

Ardenof  In  Anleii  of  Feversham,  another  pseiido-Shaksperean 

tragedy,  the  following  may  be  noted.     Act  ILL  5  : — 

Well  fares  the  man,  howe'er  his  cates  do  taste, 
That  tables  not  with  foul  suspicion ; 
And  he  but  pines  amongst  his  delicates, 
Whose  troubled  mind  is  stuff  d  with  discontent. 
My  golden  time  was  when  I  had  no  gold  ; 
Though  then  I  wanted,  then  I  slept  secure ; 
My  daily  toil  begat  me  night's  repose, 
My  night's  repose  made  daylight  fresh  to  me  : 
But  since  I  climb'd  the  top  bough  of  the  tree, 
And  sought  to  build  my  nest  among  the  clouds, 
E.xch  gentle  stirry  gale  doth  shake  my  bed. 
And  makes  me  dread  my  downfall  to  the  earth. 

Compare  Hippohjtus  1135-1140  : — 

seruat  placidos  obscura  quies 
praebetque  somnos  casa  securos. 
admota  aetheriis  culmina  sedibus 
duros  excipiunt  notos 
insani  boreae  minaij 
imbriferumque  corum. 

Of  other  plays  ascribed  to  Shakspere,  Locriiu  con- 
tains many  traces  of  Seneca,  both  in  style  and  sentiment  ; 
but  it  is  a  play  demanding  no  special  attention,  either  on 
account  of  its  date  (pr.  1595)  or  literary  merits. 


on  Elizabethan  Tragedy.  89 

Ben   Jonson   is   said  by   Theodor  Vatke^   to   have  '^onson. 
specially  studied  Seneca  ;   but  no  anthority  is  given  for 
the  statement.    A  comparison  between  Jonson  and  Seneca 
naturally  suggests  itself  from  the  character  of  Jonson's 
genius,  and  the  comparison  was  made  by  his  contempor- 
aries, both  m  the  commendatory  verses  prefixed  to  his 
works,  and  in  the  elegies  published  after  his  death  under 
the  title  of  Jonsoniiis  Virbhis.'^      Seneca  finds  a  place  in 
Jonson's  famous  lines  "  to  the  memory  of  my  beloved 
master,  William  Shakspeare,"  and  his  name  is  included 
in  Sir  John  Daw's  miscellaneous  list  of  classical  poets 
(E2)icoene^  II,  2);  Jonson  gives  a  number  of  references  to 
Seneca  as  notes  to  llic  Masque  of  Queens,  and  in  any  case 
he  might  be  safely  assumed  to  have  had  a  close  acquaint- 
ance with  Seneca,  for  Jonson  was  thoroughly  versed  in 
classical  liteiature,  in  which,  at  that  period,  Seneca  held 
a  prominent  place.      I  have  been  unable,  however,  to 
find  any  statement  by  Jonson  himself  that  he  "  specially 
studied  Senoca  ;  "  indeed,  to  judge  from  the  praises  of 
Sophocles  and  Euripides  in  the  Discoveries,  and  the  fact 
that  in  the  enumeration  of  Greek  and  Roman  dramatists 
in  the  lines  to  Shakspere  the  last  place  is  given  to  "  him 
of  Cordova  dead"  without  any  special  mark  of  distinction, 
Jonson  was  not  eager  to  admit  that  he  followed  in  the 
ordinary  track  by  -accepting   as  his  model  the  Eoman 
tragedies  which  were  within  easy  reach  even  of  those  who 
had  "small  Latin  and  less  Greek."    If  this  be  so,  Jonson 

1  Jahrhuch  der  Deutsehen  Shakespeare  GesellscJiaft,  Vol.  IV.  p.  64. 

2  See  Latin,  lines  "  In  Benjaniluum  Jonsonum,  poetam  laureatum, 
et  dramaticorum  sui  seculi  facile  principem,"  and  Owen  F^lthain  "  To 
the  Memory  of  Immortal  Ben," 


90  The  Influence  of  Seneca 

owed  more  to  Seneca  than  he  cared  to  acknowledge,  for 
it  was  upon  Seneca,  and  not  upon  the  Greek  masters, 
that  Jonson  modelled  his  tragic  style.  In  the  preface 
to  Sejanm  he  sums  up  "  the  offices  of  a  tragic  writer  " 
in  the  phrases  *'  truth  of  argument,  dignity  of  persons, 
gravity  and  height  of  elocution,  fulness  and  frequency  of 
sentence  " — the  characteristics,  not  of  Greek  tragedy,  hut 
of  Seneca.  He  apologises,  moreover,  for  "  the  want  of  a 
proper  chorus" — a  want  which  he  supplied  in  C'aYi7m^, 
and  also  in  the  sketch  of  The  Fall  of  Mortimer,  which  re- 
mained a  fragment  at  his  death.  Jonson  employed  the 
Chorus  not  after  the  manner  of  the  Greek,  but  of  the  Ro- 
man stage,  a  chorus  closing  each  of  the  five  acts.  It  is  evi- 
dent, too,  that  in  Jonson'sOaf/'Z/m',  as  in  Seneca's  tragedies, 
the  Chorus  left  the  stage  during  the  performance  of  the 
play,  and  were  supposed  to  be  ignorant  of  the  course  of 
the  action,  for  at  the  end  of  Act  IV  the  Chorus  profess 
to  be  in  doubt  ^s  to  Catiline's  designs,  which  could  not 
have  been  the  case  if  they  had  been  present  when  the 
conspiracy  was  formed,  as  would  be  required  by  the  rules 
of  Greek  tragedy.  Whalley  says  in  a  note  to  Catiline: 
"Jonson,  I  think,  does  not  appear  to  any  great  advantage 
in  the  choruses  to  this  play.  My  friend  Mr.  Sympson 
is  also  of  the  same  opinion  :  he  says,  the  sentiments  in 
them  are  not  sufficiently  great,  nor  his  measures  at  all 
imitative  of  the  ancients;  that  variety  of  numbers  which 
runs  through  all  the  Greek  tragic  poets,  seems  never  once 
to  have  been  his  aim.  But  I  imagine  Seneca,  not 
Sophocles  or  Aeschylus,  was  what  he  copied  after,  and 
'tis  then  uo  wonder  that  he  succeeded  no  better," 


on   Elizabethan  Tragedy.  91 

Jonson  owed  to  Seueca  something  more  than  the  ex- 
ternal form  of  his  tragedies ;  their  style  and  spirit  are 
Koman,  not  Greek.  In  striving- to  attain  the."  height  of 
elocution"  at  which  he  aimed,  Jonson  is  sometimes  guilty 
of  Seneca's  rhetorical  exaggeration  of  expression  ;  and  to 
this  fault  he  occasionally  adds  Seneca's  physical 
crudities.  The  dismemherment  of  Sejanus  is 
described  with  a  fulness  of  detail  which  can  only 
be  compared  with  Seneca's  account  of  the  death  of  Hip- 
poly  tus  ;  and  the  speeches  of  Cethegus  in  Catiline  offend 
in  both  the  ways  mentioned,  though  in  this  case  Jonson 
justified  himself  to  some  extent  by  making  exaggeration 
and  a  lust  for  blood  distinctive  of  the  character.  Be  this 
as  it  may,  there  is  an  echo  of  Seneca's  style  to  be  discerned 
in  passages  like  this  :—  . 

It  likes  me  bcttex",  that  you  are  not  consul. 

I  would  not  go  through  open  doors,  but  break  'em  ', 

Swim  to  my  ends  through  blood  ;  or  build  a  bridge 

Of  carcasses  ;  make  on  upon  the  heads 

Of  men,  struck  down  like  piles,  to  reach  the  lives 

Of  those  remain  and  stand  :  then  is't  a  prey, 

When  danger  stc^s,  and  ruin  makes  the  way.  (III.  1). 

In  "fulness  and  frequency  of  sentence  "  Jouson 
assuredly  did  not  fail ;  but  he  missed  the  perfect  art  of 
Shakspere,  who  made  his  reflections  arise  naturally  from 
the  situation  or  the  cliaracter  of  the  speaker.  In  Jouson, 
as  in  Seneca,  the  "  sentences  "  are  introduced  with  only 
too  obvious  design..  It  should  further  be  remarked  that 
Jonson's  indebtedness  to  Seneca  can  be  traced  much 
nidre  clearly  and  convincingly  than  that  of  Shakspere. 


92  The  Injlueuce  of  Seneca 

,  When  Shakspcre  takes  a  thonglit  suggested  by  Seneca,  it 
is  crvstallized  in  the  alembic  of  his  wonder -workin^r 
imagination,  and  comes  out  so  changed  in  form  as  to  bear 
but  sHght  traces  of  its  origin,  so  that  we  are  often  in 
doubt  whether  the  thought  is  not  entirely  Shakspere's 
own,  and  the  resemblance  to  Seneca  merely  accidental ; 
when  Jonson  borrows,  he  takes  Seneca's  crude  ore,  and 
rarely  troubles  to  melt  it  down  and  recast  it.  The  fol- 
sejanus.     lowing  parallels  from  Sejanus  may  serve  as  examples  : — 

1.2  : —  Wrath  cover'd  carries  fate  : 

Revenge,  is  lost,  if  T  profess  my  hate. 

ira  quae  tegitur  nooet, 
professa  perdunt  odia  uindictae  locum.     {Medea  153-4.) 

II.  2 —         Tliy  follies  now  shall  taste  what  kind  of  man 

They  have  provoked,  and  this  thy  father's  house 

Crack  in  the  flame  of  my  incensed  rage, 

Whose  fury  shall  admit  no  shame  or  mean.  *» 

Adultery!  it  is  the  lightest  ill 

I  will  commit.     A  race  of  a\  icked  acts 

Shall  flow  out  of  my  anger,  and  o'ersprcad 

The  world's  wide  face,  which  no  posterity 

Shall  e'er  approve,  nor  yet  keep  silent :  things 

That  for  their  cunning,  close,  and  cruel  mark, 

Thy  father  would  wish  his. 

certetur  omni  scelere  et  alterna  uice 
stringantur  eases,     nee  sit  irarum  modus 
pudorue. 

••«  *..  «••  •>•  •••  »•• 

effusus  omnis  inriget  terras  cruoi- 
supraque  magnos  gentium  exultet  duces 


on   Elizabethan  Tragedy,  93 

libido  uicirix.     inipia  stupruni  iu  domo 
leuissimum  sit. 

age  iiiiime  £ac  quod  nulla  posteritas  probet, 

sed  nulla  taceat.     ali({uo(l  audenduin  est  nefas 

atrox  cruentum  tale  quod  frater  meus 

suum  psse  malit.  (Thyestes  25-7,  44-7,  192-5.) 

The  clialogue  whicli  follows  reproduces  more  or  less 
closely  the  tyrant's  maxims  given  by  Seneca  iu  the 
Thijcsks,  the  Thehais,  and  the  Octavia,  One  example  will 
suffice:  — 

Whom  hatred  frights, 
Let  him  not  dream  of  sovereignty. 

regnare  non  uult  esse  qui  inuisus  timet.      (T/ubais  654.) 

And  again  in  the  same  scene  (II.  2) : — 

All  modesty  is  fond  ;  and  chiefly  where 
The  subject  is  no  less  compeli'd  to  bear 
f  Than  praise  his  sovereign's  acts. 

maximum  hoc  regni  bonum  est, 
quod  facta  domini  cogitur  populus  sui 
quam  ferre  tam  laudare.  (Thyestes  205-7.) 

IV.  5  :—  How  easily 

Do  wretched  men  believe,  what  they  would  have  ! 

quod  nimis  miseri  uolunt, 
hoc  facile  credunt.  (^Hercules  Furens  317-8.) 

In  V.  1  Sejanus  says  : — 

My  roof  receiACS  me  not ;  'tis  air  I  tread  ; 
And,  at  each  step,  I  feel  my  advanced  head 
Knock  out  a  star  in  heaven. 


94  The  Influence  of  Senci^ 

So  Atreus  in  TJnjestes  888-9  :— 

aequalis  astris  gradior  et  cunctos  super 
altum  superbo  uertice  attingens  polum. 

V.  10  : —      For,  whom  the  morning  saw  so  great  and  high, 
Thus  low  and  little  'fore  the  even  doth  lie. 

quern  dies  uidit  ueniens  superbum, 

hunc  dies  uidit  fugiens  iacentem,  (Thyestes  613  4.) 

It  ^'ill  be  noticed  above  tliat  the  Thyestes  is  more, 
frequently  laid  under  contribution  than  any  other  play ; 
from  the  same  tragedy  Jonson  borrowed  the  openmg  of 
Catiline.  Catiluu,  in  which  the  Ghost  of  Sylhx  plays  the  same  part 
as  the  Ghost  of  Tantalus  in  the  Thijestes;  and  when  the 
oath  of  conspiracy  is  taken,  "  the  day  goes  back"  and 
murmurings  are  heard  from  unseen  speakers,  "as  at 
Atreus'  feast."      Further  parallel  passages  are  as  under  ; 

I.l  : —  Behold,  1  come,  sent  from  the  Stygian  sound, 

As  a  dire  vapoilr  that  had  cleft  the  ground, 
To  ingender  with  the  night  and  blast  the  day  ; 
Or  like  a  pestilence  that  should  display 
Infection  through  the  world. 

mittor  ut  dirus  uapor 
telkire  rupta  uel  grauem  populis  luem 
sparsura  postis.  {Thyestes  87-9.) 

Nor  let  thy  thought  find  any  vacant  time 
To  hate  an  old,  but  still  a  fresher  crime 
Drown  the  remembrance  ;  let  not  mischief  cease,' 
But  while  it  is  in  punishing,  increase  : 
Conscience  and  care  die  in  thee;  and  be  free 
Not  heaven  itself  from  tiiy  impiety  ; 


on  Elizahethan  Tragedy.  95 

Let  night  grow  blacker  with  thy  plots,  and  day, 

At  shewing  but  thy  head  forth,  start  away 

From  this  half-sphere ;  and  leav^e  Rome's  blinded  walls 

To  embrace  lusts,  hatreds,  slaughters,  funerals. 

nee  uacet  cuiquam  uetus 
odisse  crimen  :  semper  oriatur  nouum 
nee  unum  in  uno,  dumque  punitur  scelus, 
crescat. 

•••  «••  >■•  tit  ■•*  •••  ••• 

f ratris  et  fas  et  fides 
iusque  omne  pereat.     non  sit  a  uestris  malis 
immune  caelum,     cum  micant  stellae  polo 
seruantque  flammae  debitum  mundo  decun, 
nox  atra  fiat,  excidat  caelo  dies, 
misce  ponates  odia  caedes  f  unera 
arccsse  et  imple  scelere  tantaleam  domum. 

(Thyestes  29-32,  47-52.) 

III.  1  ; —     Who  would  not  fall  with  all  the  world  about  him  1 

uitae  est  avidus  quisquis  nonuult 

mundo  secum  pereunte  mori.  (Thyestes  886-7.) 

III.  2  :—  Is  there  a  heaven  and  gods  ?  and  can  it  be 
They  should  so  slowly  hear,  so  slowly  see  ! 
Hath  Jove  no  thunder? 

magne  regnator  deum, 
tarn  lentus  audis  scelera  ?  tam  lentus  uides  ? 
ecquando  sixeua  f  ulmen  emittes  nlanu 
si  nunc  serenum  est  ?  {Hijjpolytiis,  679-682.) 

III.  2  : —     He  that  is  void  of  fear,  may  soon  be  just. 

iustum  esse  facile  est  cui  uficat  pectus  metu. 

{pckivia  453.) 


>/^~ 


96  The  Influence  of  Seneca 

III.  3  :—  He  shall  die. 

Shall,  was  too  slowly  said ;  he's  dying :  that 
Is  yet  too  slow  ;  he's  dead. 

si  noui  Herculem, 
Lycus  Creonti  debitas  poenas  dabit. 
lentura  est  dabit :  dat.     hoc  quoque  est  lentum  :  dedit,^ 

{Hercules  Furens  655-7.) 

CHAPMAN.  Chapman,  like  Jonson,  seems  to  have  taken  Senecan 

tragedy  as  his  model.  In  the  dedicatory  letter  prefixed 
to  The  Bevenge  of  Bussy  D'Anihols,  he  says  that  ''material 
instruction,  elegant  and  sententious  excitation  to  virtue 
and  deflection  from  her  contrary"  are  "  the  soul,  limhs, 
and  limits  of  an  authentical  tragedy."  He  is  excessively 
rhetorical,  sometimes  to  the  extent  of  homhast ;  lie 
has  also  Seneca's  fault  of  prolixity ;  and  he  has 
many  elahorate  similes  such  as  Seneca  occasionally 
indulged  in.  Some  of  these  characteristics  are  no  douht 
largely  accounted  for  by  Chapman's  extensive  reading  in 
other  classical  authors,  and  it  must  be  confessed  that  his 
indebtedness  to  Seneca  cannot  be  clearly  proved  to  any 
great  extent.  There  are  a  considerable  number  of  passages 
suggesting  a  comparison  with  Seneca ;  but  only  the  fol- 
lowing seem  to  me  sufficiently  convincing  to  be  worthy 
of  record : — 

Bijrons  Conspiracy  III.  1  : — • 

La  B.  You  bid  me  speak  what  fear  bids  me  conceal. 
Byr.     You  have  no  cause  to  fear,  and  therefore  speak. 


1  These  lines  have  been  parodied  by  Moliere  in  a  fanioi's  passage 
of  L'Avare,  TV,  7  ; — "  Je  me  meurs,  je  suis  mort,  je  suis  enterr^." 


on  Elizaheihun  Tragedy,  97 

La  B.  You'll  rather  wish  you  had  been  ignorant, 
Than  be  instructed  in  a  thing  so  ill. 

Byr.     Ignorance  is  an  idle  salve  for  ill ; 

And  therefore  do  not  urge  rae  to  enforce 
What  I  Avould  freely  know,  for  by  the  skill 
Shown  in  thy  aged  hairs,  I'll  lay  thy  brain 
Here  scatter'd  at  my  feet,  and  seek  in  that 
What  safely  thou  may'st  utter  with  thy  tongue 
If  thou  deny  it. 

La  B.  Will  you  not  allow  me 

To  hold  my  peace  ?  What  less  can  I  desire  1 
If  not  be  pleased  with  my  constrained  speech. 

Byr.     Was  ever  man  yet  punished  for  expressing 

What  he  was  charged  1  Be  free,  and  speak  the  worst. 

It  will  bo  found  that  all  this  is  taken  from  Oedlpm 
524-542,   except   the   passage   beginning   "  I'll  lay  thj 

brain ,"  which  is  a  piece  of  crude  bombast  worthy 

of  Seneca  himself ;  the  same  may  be  said  of  the  speeches 
of  Byron  which  follow  the  above  extract. 

Byron's  Conspiracy  V.  1  : — - 

D'auv.  0  my  lord, 

This  is  too  large  a  licence  given  you**  fury  ; 
Give  time  to  it ;  what  reason  suddenly 
Cannot  extend,  respite  doth  oft  supply. 

da  tempus  ac  spatium  tibi. 
quod  ratio  nequit,  saepe  sanauit  mora. 

(^Agamemnon  130-1.) 

Byron  s  Tragedy  IV.  1 : — 

Where  medicines  loathe,  it  irks  men  to  be  heaVd. 

\ibi  turpis  est  medicina,  sanari  piget.  (Oedipus  530.) 


98  The  Influence  of  Seneca 

Byron  s  Tragedy  V.  1  : — 

Why  should  I  keep  my  soul  in  this  dark  light, 
Whose  black  beams  lighted  me  to  lose  myself  ? 
When  I  have  lost  my  arms,  my  fame,  my  mind. 
Friends,  brother,  hopes,  fortunes,  and  even  my  fury. 

cur  animam  in  ista  luce  detinoam  amplius 

morerque  nihil  est.     cuncta  iam  amisi  bona  : 

mentem  arma  famani  coniugem  gnatos  manus 

etiam  furorem.  (^Hercules  I\rens  12Q5-S.) 

To  the  above  evidence  may  be  added  Chapman's 
liberal  use  of  sanguinary  horrors  and  ghosts  (in  Biissy 
D'Amhois,  The  Bevenge  of  Bnssy  D'Amhois,  Alphonsus 
Emperor  of  Germany,  and  Revenge  for  Honour),  which  must 
be  attributed,  directly  or  indirectly,  to  the  example  of 
Seneca, 


VARSTox.  Of  all  the  Ehzabethan  dramatists,  Marston  owed 

the  most  to  Seneca,  and  was  the  readiest  to  acknowledge 
his  indebtedness.  He  quotes  Seneca,  both  in  the 
Latin^  and  in  translation,  and  from  the  prose  works 
as  well  as  the  tragedies.  A  quotation  from  the  Thyestes 
finds  its  way  into  the  preface  to  The  Faivn,  and 
in  the  same  comedy  we  have  a  line  from  the  Oedipus 
The  Maicmtent.  (Mr.  Bullen's  cdition,  II.  p.  191).  In  The  Malcontent, 
which  the  author  also  calls  a  comedy,  Bilioso,  essaying 
to  give  comfort  to  Pietro,  says,  "  Marry,  I  remember  one 
Seneca,  Lucius  Annaeus  Seneca — "  and  Pietro  rephes, 


3ee  Appendix  I, 


on   Wizahethan  Tragedy.  99 

"  Out  upon  him  !  he  writ  of  temperance  and  fortitude, 
yet  lived  like  a  Yoluptuous  epicure,  and  died  like  an 
effeminate  coward ;  "  again,  in  Act  V.  2,  Mendoza  says 

Black  deed  only  through  black  deed  safely  flies. 

and  Malevole  retorts 

Pooh  !  2^er  scelera  semper  sc'cleribus  tutum  est  iter. 

the  quotation  being  from  Agamemnon  116.  Notwith- 
standing these  sneers,  we  have  other  quotations  from 
Seneca  in  the  same  play,  both  in  Latin  and  English. 

He  that  can  bear  with  must,  he  cannot  die 

in  IV.  1  is  a  translation  of  Megara's  vaunt  in  Hercules 
Furens  431,  "  cogi  qui  potest,  nescit  mori."  From  the 
same  source  is  taken  much  of  Maria's  opposition  to  the 
suit  of  Mendoza.  Megara  says  in  Hercules  Furens 
423-5 :— 

grauent  catenae  corpus  et  longa  fame 
mors  protrahatur  lenta.    non  uincet  fidem 
uis  ulia  nostram.     moriar  Alcide  tua. 

So  Maria  in  V.  2  :— 

0  my  dear'st  Altof  ront !  where'er  thou  breathe, 
Let  my  soul  sink  into  the  shades  beneath, 
Before  I  stain  thine  honour  !   'tis  thou  has't, 
And  long  as  I  can  die,  I  will  live  chaste. 

and  again  in  V.  3 : — • 

Do,  urge  all  torments,  all  afflictions  try  ; 
I'll  die  my  loi-ds  as  long  as  I  can  die. 


100  Tiir  hiffiience  of   Seneca 

In  HerDuks  Finrns  255-6: — 

prosperum  ac  felix  scelus 
uirtus  uocatur, 

we  have  the  original  of  V.2: — 

Mischief  that  prospers,  men  do  virtue  call. 

and  the  Hues  that  follow, 

Who  cannot  bear  with  spite,  he  cannot  rule. 
•  The  chiefest  secret  for  a  man  of  state 

Is,  to  live  senseless  of  a  strengthless  hate, 

come  from  TJiehais  654-6: — 

regnare  non  uult  esse  qui  inuisus  timet, 
simul  ista  mundi  conditor  posuit  deus 
odium  atque  regnum. 

Antonio  and  Ifc  is,  however,  in  Marston's  earlier  tragedies,  the  two 

Mdlida.  '  . 

■^2iYi^  oi  Antonio  and  Mdlida^  that  we  find  the  influence 
of  Seneca  most  plainly  manifested,  as  the  following  par- 
allels will  show.^    In  Part  I: — 

I,  1  : —         "Tis  horselike  not  for  man  to  know  his  force. 

inertis  est  nescire  quid  liceat  sibi.  (Octavia  465.) 

Mell.    How  covetous  thou  art  of  novelties  ! 
Ross.      Pish  !  'tis  our  nature  to  desire  things 

That  are  thought  strangers  to  the  common  cut. 

quisquis  secundis  rebus  exultat  nimis 
fluitque  luxu  semper  insolita  appetit.^ 

{Hippolytus  209-210.) 


1  One  noteworthy  passage  has  already  been  given.     See  p.  24. 

2  A  slight  variation  from  the  Aldine  reading. 


on   EUzahethan  Tragedy.  101 

III.  1  : —     Fortune  my  fortunes,  not  my  mind,  shall  shake. 

fortuna  opes  auferre  non  animum  potest.      (Medea  176.) 

Alas,  survey  your  fortunes,  look  what's  left 
Of  all  your  forces,  and  your  utmost  hopes  : 
A  weak  old  man,  a  page,  and  your  poor  self. 

en  intuere  turba  quae  simus  super  : 

famulus^   puer  captiua.  (Troas  516-7.) 

No  matter  whither,  but  from  whence  we  fall. 

magis  unde  cadas  quam  quo  refert.  {Thyestes  929.) 

IV.  1  : —  Give  me  water,  boy. 

There  is  no  poison  in' t,  I  hope ;  they  say 
That  lurks  in  massy  plate. 

uenenum  in  auro  bibitur.  {Thyestes  453.) 

And.    Fortune  fears  valour,  presseth  cowardice. 
Luc.     Then  valour  gets  applause,  when  it  hath  place, 

And  means  to  blaze  it. 
AxD.    Kunquam  potest  non  esse. 

Med.     fortuna  fortes  metuit,  ignauos  premit. 

NvTR.  tunc  est  probanda  si  locum  uirtus  habet. 

Med.    numquam  potest  non  esse  uirtuti  locus.     (J/eofea  159-161.) 

Ill  Part  II  the  borrowing  from  Seneca  is  not  quite 
so  frequent,  but  it  is  still  considerable  in  amount.  Mr. 
BuUen  detects  "  an  Attic  flavour "  in  a  passage  of 
stichomythia  in  II.  1,  and  is  momentarily  reminded  of 
Creon's  altercation  with  his  son  in  the  Antigone;  as  ft 

1  The  Aldine  reading  is  tumulus> 


102  The  hijluence  of  Seneca 

matter  of  fact,   the  dialogue  is  borrowed  directly  and 
almost  entirely  from  Seneca  : — 

Pier.    'Tis  just  that  subjects  act  commands  of  kings. 
Pand.  Command  then  just  and  honourable  things. 

Nero   iussisque  nostris  pareant. 

Sen.  iusta  imjiera.       (Octavia  471  ) 

Pier.    Where  only  honest  deeds  to  kings  are  free, 
It  is  no  empire,  but  a  beggary.'' 

ubicumque  tantum  honesta  dominanti'licent, 

precario   regnatur.  [Thyestes  214-5.) 

Pier.    Tush,  juiceless  graybeard,  'tis  immunity, 

Proper  to  princes,  that  our  state  exacts ; 

Our  subjects  not  alone  to  bear,  but  jfraise  our  acts. 
Pand.  O,  but  that  prince,  that  worthful  praise  aspires. 

From  hearts,  and  not  from  lips,  applause  desires. 
Pier.    Pish ! 

True  praise  the  boon  of  common  men  doth  ring, 

False  only  girts  the  temple  of  a  king. 

Atr.  maximum  hoc  regni  bonum  est, 

quod  facta  domini  cogitur  populus  sui  ^ 
quam  ferre  tarn  laudare. 

Sat.       at  qui  fauoiis  gloriam  ueri  petit, 

animo  magis  quam  uoce  laudari  uolet. 
Atr.     laus  uera  et  humili  saepe  contingit  uiro, 

non  nisi  potenti  falsa.         {Thyestes  205-7,  and  209-212.) 

Pandulfo's  reply, 

'Tis  praise  to  do,  not  what  we  can,  but  should. 


on  Elizahethan  Tragedy,  103 

is  from  Odavia  466  :— 

id  facere  laus  est  quod  decet,  non  quod  licet. 

The  act  closes  witli  a  quotation  from  the  AgamemnoHy^ 
and  the  Thyestes  is  laid  under  contribution  once  more  in 
the  next  scene,  which  is  thoroughly  Senecan  ia  conception 
and  execution.  When  the  Ghost  of  Andrea  appears 
again  at  the  opening  of  A.ct  V,  he  introduces  himself 
very  appropriately  by  quoting  two  lines  spoken  by  the 
shade  of  Agrippina  in  the  Octavia  ;  and  the  final  scene  is 
taken  from  the  Thyestes,  not  only  in  its  main  idea,  but  iii 
the  very  words  of  the  taunts  addressed  by  Pandulfo  to  the 
sinful  father  who  has  feasted  on  his  own  son,    V.  2  : — 

He  weeps ;  now  do  I  glorify  my  hands ; 
I  had  no  vengeance,  if  I  had  no  tears. 

nunc  meas  laudo  manus. 
nunc  parta  uera  est  palnia.     perdideram  scelus 
nisi  sic  dolores.  '      (Thyestes  1100-2.) 

Thy  son  ?  true ;  and  which  is  my  most  joy, 
I  hope  no  bastard,  but  thy  very  blood, 
Thy  true-begotten,  most  legitimate 
And  loved  issue— there's  the  comfort  on't. 

Thy,    gnatos  parenti. 

Atr.  .  fateor  et  quod  me  iuuat, 

certos.  ;  {Thyestes  1105-6.) 

The  rhetorical  and  reflective  style  as  well  as  the  crude 
horrors  of  the  two  parts  of  Antonio  and  MelUda,  must  be 
ascribed  to  the  influence  of  Seneca.  To  Seneca's 
account,  too,  we  must  set  down  what  Mr.  Bullen  describes 


104  The  Influence  of  Seneca 

as  Marston's  "  besetting  fault  of  straining  his  style  a  pf-g 
too  high ;  of  seeking  to  be  impressive  by  the  use  of 
exaggerated  and  unnatural  imagery."  The  description  of 
a  storm  in  Ths  First  Part  oj  Antonio  and  Mellida,  I.  1, 
which  in  Mr.  BuUen's  opinion  exhibits  this  besetting 
sin  of  Marston's  "  to  perfection,"  is  modelled  on  a 
similar  description  in  Seneca's  Agamemnon.  Compare 
the  opening  in  each  case  : — 

The  sea  grew  mad, 
His  bowels  rumbling  with  wind-passion  ; 
Straight  swarthy  darkness  popp'd  out  Phoebus'  eye, 
And  blurr'd  the  jocund  face  of  bright-cheek'd  day ; 
Whilst  crudled  fogs  masked  even  darkness'  brow  : 
Heaven  bad's  good  night,  and  the  rocks  groan 'd 
At  the  intestine  uproar  of  the  main. 

exigua  nubes  sordido  crescens  globo 
nitidum  cadentis  inquinat  Phoebi  iubar. 

tractuque  longo  litus  ac  petrae  geraunt. 

agitata  uentis  unda  uenturis  tumet, 

cum  luna  subito  conditur,  stellae  cadunt, 

in  astra  pontus  tollitur,  caelum  perit. 

nee  una  nox  est :  densa  tenebras  obruit 

caligo  et  omni  luce  subducta  fretum 

caelumque  miscet.         (Agamemnon  483-4  and  489-495.) 

and  again 

Straight  chops  a  wave,  and  in  in  his  sliftred  paunch 
Down  falls  our  ship,  and  there  he  breaks  his  neck ; 
Which  in  an  instant  up  was  belkt  again. 

illam  dehiscens  pontus  in  praeceps  rapit 
hauritque  et  alto  redditam  reuomit  mare. 

(Aoaynemnon  520-1.) 


on  Elizabethan  Tragedy,  105 

But  Marston  gained  something  besides  unnatural 
exaggeration  from  his  study  of  Seneca.  Mr.  Bullen 
gives  unqualified  praise  tc  the  "  dignified  reflections 
tvhich  Marston  puts  into  the  niDiith  of  the  discrowned 
Andrugio  in  the  noble  speech  beginning,  *  Why,  man,  I 
never  was  a  prince  till  now.'  "  This,  too,  was  suggested 
by  Seneca,  as  will  be  seen  on  comparison  with  Thyestes 
314-390. 

It  mav  be  doubted  whether  Marston  ever  broke 
away  from  the  influence  of  Seneca,  though  it  is  certainly 
less  marked  in  his  later  plays.  Mr.  Bullen  remarks  an 
improvement  in  T]ie  Muhontent,  which  followed  next  to 
Antonio  and  Mellida.  "The  moralising,"  he  says,  "is 
less  tedious,  and  the  satire  more  pungent  than  in  the 
earlier  plays.  There  is  less  of  declamation  and  more  of 
action.  The  atmosphere  is  not  so  stifling,  and  one  can  \ 
breallie  with  something  of  freedom.  There  are  no  ghosts 
to  shout  '  Viudicia  !  '  and  lie  boys  to  be  butchered  at  / 
midnight  in  damp  cloisters;  nobody  has  his  •tongue  cut  A 
out  prior  to  being  hacked  to  pieces.""  While  one  may 
atTmit  the  justice  of  these  obs^rvatidns,  it  should  not  be 
forgotten  that  TJie  Malcontent  is  described  by  Marston 
himself  as  a  comedy.  When  he  returns  to  tragedy  in 
^ophonisha — a  tragedy  which,  he  promises,  "  shall  boldly 
abide  the  most  curious  perusal  "^  —  he  faUs  back  upon 
Seneca's  ghosts  and  witches,  his  blood-curdling  descrip- 
tions  of    crude    horrors    decked    out    with    unnatural 


J  See  the  note  To  the  Header  prefixed  tp  the  second  qua  rto  of  The  Fawn^ 


106  The  Ivfunice  of  Seneca 

imagery,  his  rhetorical  artificialities  and  reflective 
commonplaces.  Much  less,  however,  is  borrowed  direct 
from  Seneca  than  in  the  earlier  plays.  The  description 
of  the  habits  and  abode  of  the  witch  Erichtho  is 
taken  from  Lucan — a  writer  allied  to  Seneca  not  only 
by  close  ties  of  relationship,  but  by  likeness  of  character, 
for  his  genius  is  essentially  philosophic  and  rhetoiical. 
lu  tbe  reflective  passages,  too,  of  Soplionii^ha,  Marston 
borrowed  far  less  from  Seneca  than  in  the  earlier  plays. 
The  dialogue  between  Asdrubal  and  Carthalon  at  the  end 
of  Act  II.  3  is  quite  in  Seneca's  style,  but  I  have  only 
detected  two  ideas  taken  directly  from  Seneca  :  — 


He  that  forbids  not  ofience,  he  does  it. 

qui  non  uetat  peccare,  cum  possit,  iubot.       (Troas  300.) 


and 


He  for  whom  mischief's  done, 


He  does  it. 


cui  prod  est  seel  us, 
is  fecit.  (Medea  503-4.) 

The  Insatiate  Countess  is,  in  Mr.  Bullen's  opinion,  not 
Marston's,  or,  at  any  rate,  not  all  of  it.  One  of  the  reasons 
that  incline  him  to  this  conclusion  is  the  number  of  pas- 
sages imitated  from  Shakspere,  among  which  he  includes 
the  following  (V.  1)  : — 

What  Tanais,  Nilus,  or  what  Tigris  swift, 

What  Rhenus  ferier  than  the  cataract, — 

Although  Neptolis  cold,  the  waves  of  all  the  Northern  Sea, 

Should  flow  for  ever  through  these  guilty  hands, 

Yet  the  sanguinolent  stain  would  extant  be  ! 


on  Miizabethan  Tragedy.  107 

Mr.  BiiUen  compares  this  with  a  well  known  passage 
in  Mucheth,  ah'eady  quoted  in  this  essay.^  The  original  of 
both  passages  is,  I  think,  to  be  found  in  Hercules  Fmxm 
1330-6 :— 

quis  Tanais  aut  quis  ISilus  aut  quis  persica 
uiolentus  unda  Tigris  aut  Rhenusferox 
Tagusue  hibara  turbidus  gaza  fluons, 
abluere  dextram  poterit  ?     arctouni  licet 
Maeotis  in  me  gelid  a  transfundat  mare 
et  tota  Tethys  per  meas  currat  manus  : 
haerebit  altum  facinus. 

From  the  closeness  of  the  translation  in  The  Insatiate 
Countess,  it  is  evident  that  the  author  borrowed  from  Seneca 
direct ;  and  it  seems  to  me  that  the  reading  "  Neptolis," 
for  \Yhich  Mr.  Bullen  suggests  the  emendation  "  Neptune," 
might  safely  be  altered  to  the  "  Maeotis  "  of  the  original. 
Moreover,  this  passage,  imitated  not  from  Shakspere  but 
from  Seneca,  testifies  in  favour  of  Marston's  authorship, 
and  not,  as  Mr.  Bullen  thicks,  against  it. 


In  the  same  school  as  Marston's  Antonio  \md  Mellida  chettle's 

Jloffinan. 

must  be  included  Chettle's  HoJ'nian  ;  or  a  Eevenge  for  a 
Father,  which  was  not  printed  till  1631,  but  (as  we  learn 
from  Henslowe's  Diarij)  was  written  in  1602.  The  tragedy 
opens  before  a  cave  at  the  entrance  of  which  there  is  "  a 
skeleton  hanging  on  a  tree  in  chains,  with  an  iron  crown 
on  its  head."  Amid  thunder  and  lightning  Hoffman 
addresses  his  murdered  father's  skeleton,  "which  rattles 

1  See  p.  84.  "  ' 


108  The  Ivfuencc  af  Seneca 

from  the  mnd  in  its  chains."  Then  appears  the  first 
victim  of  Hoffman's  revenge,  Prince  Otho,  who  is  bound 
to  the  rock  and  tortured  to  death  (on  the  stage)  with 
the  iron  crown,  which  has  been  taken  from  the  head  of 
the  skeleton,  and  made  red  hot.  Hoffman,  having 
stripped  the  flesh  off  the  bones,  hangs  the  skeleton  in 
chains,  by  the  side  of  that  of  his  father,  upon  the  tree, 
and  speaks  thus  : — 

Come,  image  of  bare  death,  join  side  to  side      ' 
With  my  long-injur'd  father's  naked  bones  ! 
He  was  the  prologue  to  a  tragedy, 
That,  if  my  destinies  deny  me  not, 
Shall  pass  those  of  Thyestes,  Tereus, 
Jocasta,  or  Duke  Jason's  jealous  wife. 

The  "  dismal  accidents  and  bloody  deeds,  poisonings 
and  treasons  "  which  follow  bid  fair  to  fulfil  the  promise 
that  Seneca's  gruesome  themes  shall  be  outdone.  In 
the  end,  Hoffman  is  bound  to  the  rock,  and  tortured  with 
the  iron  crown,  made  red  hot ;  this  alone  prevents  him 
from  adding  rape  to  a  succession  of  murders,  and  he  dies 
regretting  that  he  has 

j  •  slack t  revenge 

I  Through  fickle  beauty  and  a  woman's  fraud. 

There  are  occasional  reflective  passages  .in  Seneca's 
stvle,  and  some  reminiscences  of  his  ideas,  but  they  are 
neither  striking  nor  important.  There  is  a  close  resem** 
blance  throughout  to  Seneca's  mode  of  treating  his  bloody 
themes,  Act  IV.  3  giving  a  noteworthy  example  of  the 


on    Elizahethan  Tragedij,  109 

rhetorical  and  amplified  horror  which  we  have  remarked 
as  one  of  Seneca's  most  striking  characteristics.  Take 
for  instance  the  passage  : — 

Thou  wert  as  gootl,  and  better,  (note  my  words) 
Run  unto  the  top  of  [some]  dreadful  scar 
And  thence  fall  headlong  on  the  under  rocks ; 
Or  set  thy  breast  against  a  cannon  fir'd, 
When  iron  death  flies  thence  on  flaming  wings ; 
Or  with  thy  shoulders,  Atlas-like,  attempt 
To  bear  the  ruins  of  a  falling  tower ; 
Or  swim  the  ocean,  or  run  quick  to  hell, 
(As  dead  assure  thyself  no  better  place) 
Than  once  look  frowning  on  this  angel's  face. 

Seneca's  fondness  for  these  exaggerated  comparisons 
has  been  already  noted. ^ 


Lust's  Dominion  (pr,  1657),  a  tragedy  of  similar  Lust's Dominmu 
character  to  the  preceding,  but  of  more  inept  workman- 
ship, is  only  of  importance  on  account  of  its  supposed 
identity  with  Dekker's  Simnish  Moor's  Tragedy,  acted  in 
January,  1599-1600.  It  contains  bombast  in  abundance, 
and  sententious  reflections  in  Seneca's,  manner,  some- 
times with  an  echo  of  his  ideas. 


Webster    and    Tourneur    further    developed    the  wEBsxERand 

^  TOURNEUR. 

Tragedy   of  Blood   (as   Mr.    Symonds  calls   it),   which 
by   their    time    had    been    long    familiar    to    English 


^  See  page  19. 


110  The  Infliionce  of  Sauca 

audiences  aud  readers ;  and  the  indirect  influence  of 
Seneca  acting  through  their  predecessors  in  Enghsh 
tragedy  had  probably  more  effect  upon  them  than  any 
first-hand  study  of  the  Eoman  dramatist,  of  which  we 
have  little  evidence.  In  The  Revenger's  Tragedij  Tourneur 
misquotes  a  single  line  from  Seneca — the  familiar 

curae  leues  loquuntur  ingentes  stupent.^ 

The  same  thought  is  reproduced  by  Webster  in  The 
White  Devil,  II.  1 :  - 

Uukindness,  do  thy  office ;  poor  heart,  break  : 
Those  are  the  killing  griefs  which  dare  not  speak. 

but  it  seems  likely  that  this  was  a  reminiscence  of 
Shakspere,  and  was  not  taken  directly  from  Seneca, 
The  same  may  be  said  of  anotherMine  in  the  same 
scene : — 

Small  mischiefs  are  by  greater  made  secure. 

Another  idea  common  to  Shakspere  and  Seneca  is 
reproduced  by  Tourneur  in  The  Revenger  s  Tragedy,  V.  3: — 

He  that  climbs  highest  has  the  greatest  fall. 

A  passage  in  the  same  play  II.  4  : — 

It  well  becomes  that  judge  to  nod  at  crimes 
That  does  commit  greater  himself,  and  lives. 

may  be  compared  with  Agamemnon  268  : — 
det  ille  ueniam  facile  cui  uenia  est  opus. 


^  See  Appendix  I. 


on   Elizabethan  Tragedy,  111 

Tonrneur    has    also   effectively  developed   an  idea 
suggested  in  Hippohjtiis  679-682  : — 

magne  rcgnator  deum 
tarn  lentus  audis  scelera  1     tara  lentus  uides  ? 
ccquando  saoua  fulmen  emittes  manu 
si  nunc  serenum  est  1 

In  The-  Bevengers  Tragedij,  IV.  2  Yendice  says  : — 

0  thou  almighty  patience  !  'tis  my  wonder 

That  such  a  fellow,  impudent  and  wicked, 

Should  not  be  cloven  as  he  stood  ; 

Or  with  a  secret  wind  burst  open  ! 

Is  there  no  thunder  left ;  or  is't  kept  up 

In  stock  for  heavier  vengeance  ?   [7'hnnder]    there  it  goes  ! 

The  same  device  is  employed  once  more  in  the  last 
scene. 

More  striking,  however,  than  the  resemblance  of 
isolated  passages  is  the  resemblance  in  theme  and  mode 
of  treatment.  Webster  and  Tourneur,  like  Seneca, 
choose  themes  of  Inst,  murder,  incest,  and  unnatural \ 
crime;  they  employ  the  same  devices  of  ghosts  and  the 
"hastly  relics  of  mortality ;  their  tragedies  breathe  the 
same  atmosphere  of  blood.  By  the  side  of  these  heaped 
up  horrors,  which  Webster  depicted  with  unique  dramatic 
power  and  psychological  insight,  we  have  something  of 
Seneca's  reflective  tendency,  and  occasionally  a  likeness 
in  the  thoughts  expressed,  as  may  be  remarked  in  the 
the  passages  quoted  above.  We  have  Seneca's  fatalism 
in  The  Duchess  of  Malji,  V.  4:— 

We  are  merely  the  stars'  tennis  balls,  struck  and  bandied 
"Which  way  please  them. 


112  The  Influence  of  Seneca 

and  Seneca's  Stoicism  in  V.  3  of  the  same  play: — • 

Though  in  our  miseries  Fortune  have  a  part, 
Yet  in  our  noble  sufferings  she  hath  none  : 
Contempt  of  pain,  that  we  may  call  our  own. 

Tourneur  amplifies  the  same  idea  in  The  Atheist's 
Tragedy,  III.  3,  in  Charlemont's  defiance  of  Sebastian  and 
bis  father.  To  the  same  source  we  may  ascribe  the 
Stoical  calmness  with  which  the  characters  of  both 
dramatists  meet  death.  See,  for  instance,  the  last  speech 
of  the  Duchess  of  Malfi  ;  Vittoria  Corrombona  welcomes 
death  "  as  princes  do  some  great  ambassador ; "  she 
meets  the  weapon  half-way,  and  sheds  "not  one  base 
tear."  Flamineo,  her  villainous  brother,  ends  his  life 
,with  a  laugh,  and  the  reflection. 

We  cease  to  grieve,  cease  to  be  fortune's  slaves, 
Nay,  cease  to  die,  by  dying. 

Bosola,  the  villain  of  Thi  Diioh''ss  of  Malfi,  dies  with 
hardly  less  constancy.  Charlemout  and  Castabella  in 
The  Atheists  Tragedij  seek  death  with  equal  hardihood ; 
and  in  The  Revenger's  Tragedg  Vendice  accepts  death  for 
himself  as  calmly  as  he  dealt  it  out  to  others,    v 

FORD,  f^       Ford  abounds  in  his  own  kind  of  tragic  horrors,  and 
he  is  not  altogether  free  from  crude  sensationalism;  in 
yTis   Pitg   She's    a    Whore,    Giovanni    enters    with    his 
I  sister's    heart    upon    his    dagger,    and    Ford's    plays 
generally   treat    of   such   "  strong "  themes    as   incest, 
adultery,  and  murderous  revenge.     But  the  atmosphere 


vv 


on  Elizabethan  Tragedy,  11^ 

of  his  tragedies  does  not  overpower  us  with  the  smell 
of  blood,  as  in  the  case  of  Webster  and  Tourneiir ;  there 
is  often  a  fresher,  purer  air  of  quiet  thought  and  natural 
passion.  Ford  makes  little  use  of  the  supernatural ;  in 
all  probability  Mother  Sawyer  and  her  familiars  in  The 
Witch  of  Edmonton  am  the  creations  of  Dekker,  and  the 
only  spirit  to  be  set  down  to  Ford's  account  is  the  quiet 
and  inoffensive  ghost  of  Susan,  which  comes  to  the  bed- 
side of  her  husband  and  murderer,  and  stands  there 
without  saying  a  word.  Ford's  genius  was  of  too  refined 
a  character  to  seek  the  strong  and  coarse  effects  which 
were  achieved  by  some  of  his  contemporaries  and 
predecessors.  Occasionally  he  is  guilty  of  rhetorical 
exaggeration,  as  in  The  Broken  Heart,  IV.  1 : — 

In  anger ! 
In  anger  let  him  part ;  for  could  his  breath, 
Like  whirlwinds,  toss  such  servile  slaves  as  lick 
The  dust  his  footsteps  print  iiito  a  vapour. 
It  durst  not  stir  a  hair  of  mine,  it  .should  not ; 
Id  rend  it  up  by  the  roots  first. 

And  again  m  Love's  Sacrifice,  IV.  2  :— 

I  have  a  sword — 'tis  here — should  make  my  way 
Through  tire,  through  darkness,  death,  and  hell,  and  all, 
To  hew  your  lust-engendered  flesh  to  shreds, 
Pound  you  to  mortal",  cut  your  throats,  and  mince 
Your  flesh  to  mites  :  I  will, — start  not,-— I  will. 

But  extravagance  is  pardonable  in  the  mouths  of 
characters  like  Ithocles  and  the  Duke  in  their  respective 
situations. 


114  The  lujluence  of  Seneca 

In  Ford  the  reflective  tendency  is  strongly  marked, 
but  his  manner  is  all  his  own.  He  had  a  marvellous  gift 
for  expressing  deep  and  yet  simple  thought,  far  removed 
from  Seneca's  artificial  and  strained  dialectic,  which  was 
probably  its  far-back  ancestor.  Nothing  could  show  the 
contrast  better  than  the  comparison  of  Seneca's  well-worn 
maxim, 

curae  leues  loquuntur  ingentes  stupent, 

with  the  magnificent  passage  in  which  Ford  enlarges  on 
the  same  idea.     The  Broke?!.  Heart,  V.  3  : — 

0,  my  lords, 
I  but  deceived  your  eyes  with  antic  gesture, 
When  one  news  straight  came  huddling  on  another 
Of  death  !  and  death  !  and  death  !  still  I  danced  forward  ; 
But  it  struck  home,  and  here,  and  in  an  instant. 
Be  such  mere  women,  who  with  shrieks  and  outcries 
Can  vow  a  present  end  to  all  their  sorrows, 
Yet  live  to  court  new  pleasures,  and  outlive  them  : 
They  are  the  silent  griefs  which  cut  the  heart-strings  ; 
Let  me  die  smiling. 


Probably  the  points  in  which  Ford  drew  nearest  to 

Seneca  and  in  which  he  owes  most  to  him  (if  indeed  he 

owes  anything  at  all)  are  those  previously  remarked  in 

the  case  of  his  contemporaries.     Ford,  like  Seneca,  was 

^  fatalist.     Thus  Orgilus  in  The  Broken  Heart,  I.  3  : — 

Ingenious  Fate  has  leapt  into  mine  arms, 
Beyond  the  compass  of  my  brain.     Mortality 
Creeps  on  the  dung  of  earth,  and  cannot  reach 
The  xiddles  which  are  purposed  by  the  gods, 


on  EUzabethan  Tragcdij.  115 

The  same  thought  closes  Act  IV  of  Love's  Satrifice, 
and  occurs  again  and  again  in  the  domestic  tragedy  of 
The  IVitch  of  Edmonton,  the  only  part  of  that  drama  we 
should  ascribe  to  Ford.  With  this  fatalism  is  allied  the 
idea  of  Stoical  submission.  Thus  Ladv  Katherine  in 
Ferkin  Warbed,  III.  2  :— 

What  our  dcstiuiog 
Have  ruled  out  in  their  books  we  must  not  searoh, 
But  kneel  to. 

So,  too,  Ithocles  in  Tke  Brolen  Heart,  lY.  1: — ■ 

Leave  to  the  powers 
Above  us  the  effects  of  their  decrees ; 
My  burthen  lies  within  me  :  servile  fears 
Prevent  no  great  effects. 

To  the  influence  of  Seneca,  direct  or  indirect,  we 
should  probably  ascribe  the  calmness  with  which  Ford's 
characters  meet  death.  Perkin  Warbeck  closes  his  life 
with  the  words. 

Death?  pish  !  'tis  but  a  sound:  a  name  of  air 

]he  innocent  Susan  in  The  Witch  of  Edmonton ;  the 
guilty  brother  and  sister  in  'Tis  Fity  She's  a  Wiore; 
Ithocles,  Orgilus,  and  Calantha  in  The  Broken  Hmrt : 
Bianca,  Fernando,  and  the  Duke  m  Loves  Sacrifce—aW 
arealike  in  their  contempt  for  death  ;  they  rather  seek 
it  than  fear  it. 


116  The  Ivfluence  of  Seneca 

BEAU3toi\T  Beaumont  and  FletchePv,  in  The  Kniqhi  of  the  Burnimj 

and  ■  ^  ■■  "J 

FLETCHER.    jVsf/^',  made  ftin  of  tLe  pliilosopliical  commonplaces,^  the 
I  bombast,  and  the  supernatm'al  horrors  which  dramatists 
(  like  Marston  borrowed  from  Seneca;   but  Beaumont  and 
I  Fletcher  are   themselves  not  free  from  occasional  exag- 
geration of  expression  ;-  ghosts  or  spirits  appear  in  several 
of    the    plays     in     which      Fletcher     had    a    hand,'^ 
and  in  one     or   two   the  tragic   effect    is   of    a   some- 
what   gruesome     character.      Thus    in    The     Triampli 
'of  Death  (probably  by  Fletcher  alone),  amid  the  whole- 
/  sale  slaughter  which  closes  the  play,  Gabriella  tears  out 
I  her  husband's  heart,  and  throws  it  at  his  uncle's  feet ; 
Uind  in  The  Bloochj  Brother  (by  Fletcher  and  Massinger), 
;the  heads  of  Gisbert  and  Hamond  are  brought  on  the 
j stage  after  their  execution.      Still,  it  must  be  acknow- 
ledged that  Fletcher  and  his  chief  co-adjutors,  Beaumont 
and  Massinger,  owe  little  to  Seneca.     Their  most  impor- 
tant debt  was  probably  the  Stoical  fortitude  with  which 
their  characters  are  inspired  in  face  of  death.     Fletcher 
has    sometimes   been   credited  wdth  weakness   in    this 
respect  ;*  but,  so  far  as  I  can  see,  it  is  little  less  remark- 
able in  the  plays  which  Fletcher  wrote  alone  than  in 


1  Ralph's  reflection,  (V.  2),  "  To  a  resolved  mind  his  home  is 
everywhere,"  is  evidently  a  parody  of  Antonio  and  Mellida,  2nd  Part, 
II.  1,  "A  wise  man's  home  is  wheresoe'er  he  is  wise" — a  maxim  which 
Marston  borrowed  from  Seneca. 

2  See  Fhilaster,  III.  1."  Set    hills  on  hills..."  and   IV.  4.    "Place 

me,  some  god,  upon  a  pyramis ;"  speeches  of  Arbaces  in  A  King 

and  no  King  ;  and  Fletcher's  A  Wife  for  a  Month,  IV.  4. 

3  In  The  Lover's  Progress  and  The  Proi^hetess,  by  Fletcher  and 
Massinger,  and  in  Tlie  Humorous  Lieutenant  and  The  Triumph  of 
Death,  by  Fletcher  alone.  , 

*  See  Mr.  R.  Boyle's  note  on  Barnavelt, 


071  Ellzahethni  Tragcdij.  117 

tliose  written  in  conjunction  with  others.     In  Fletcher's 
Valmtinian,  IV,  4,  Aecius  says  : — 

We  must  all  die, 
All  leave  ourselves ;  it  matters  not  where,  when, 
Nor  how,  so  we  die  well. 

So  too  Young  Archas  in  I.  4  of  The  Loyal  Suhjai, 
another  play  written  hy  Fletcher  alone  : — 

'Tis  but  dying, 
And,  madam,  we  must  do  it ;  the  manner's  alL 

an^  his  father  in  IV.  5  : — 

I  am  the  same,  the  same  man,  living,  dying  ; 
The  same  mind  to  'em  both,  T  poize  thus  equal. 

See  also  the  deaths  of  Bonduca  and  her  daughters 
in  Fletcher's  tragedy,  for,  as  in  Seneca,  the  women  are 
no  less  brave  than  the  men.  We  note  this  as  well  in  the 
work  which  Fletcher  did  in  co-operation  with  Beaumont 
as  in  the  later  tragedies  in  which  he  had  the  assistance 
of  Massinger.  When  Philaster  (III.  1)  says  to  the  dis- 
guised Euphrasia, 

Oh,  but  thou  dost  not  know 
What  'tis  to  die. 

she  replies 

Yes,  I  do  know,  my  lord  : 
'Tis  less  than  to  be  born  ;  a  lasting  sleep ; 
A  quiet  resting  from  all  jealousy, 
A  thing  we  all  pursue  ;  I  know,  besides. 
It  is  but  giving  over  of  a  gan.e 
That  must  be  lost. 


118  The  Iiifiucnce  of  Senecd 

and    Ordella  in   Fletcher  and   Massinger's   Thurrij  and 
Theodorct  says, 

'Tis  of  all  sleeps  the  sweetest : 
Children  begin  it  to  us,  strong  men  seek  it, 
And  kings  from  height  of  all  their  painted  glories 
Fall  like  spent  exhalations  to  this  centre  : 
And  those  are  fools  that  fear  it. 

In  The  Double  Marriage,  another  phiy  by  Fletcher 
and  Massinger,  Juliana  is  as  heroic  in  her  contempt  for 
death  as  her  husband,  and  Martia  as  unflinching  as  her 
valiant  father. 

Eeflective  passages  in  the  plays  passing  under  the 

names  of  Beaumont  and  Fletcher  are  not  numerous,  and 

though  in   some  cases   the  thought   expressed  may  be 

interpreted  as  a  reminiscence  of  Seneca,  there  are  few 

instances  in  which  the  resemblance  is  not  just  as  likely 

to  be  merely  accidental.     Thus,  Philaster's  exclamation 

(III.  1.  ad  fin.) 

Oh,  where  shall  I 
Go  bathe  this  body  ?  Nature  too  unkind, 
That  made  no  medicine  for  a  troubled  mind  ! 

may  be  compared   ^utll  Hercules  Furens  1330-6,  "  Quis 

Tanais "  and  1268-9,  "  Nemo  polluto  queat  animo 

mederi ;"  but  it  seems  useless  to  multiply  parallels  of  this 
kind.  The  only  example  I  have  found  of  direct  imitation 
TheBio^dy  is  in  the  scene  between  Sophia  and  her  two  sons  in  The 
Bloodij  Brother  (I.  1),  which  is  largely  borrowed  from 
Seneca,  as  the  following  extracts  will  show :— - 


Broihrr. 


on  EUzahethan  Tragedy.  119 

Soph.     And  join  your  hands  while  they  are  itmoreat ! 

You  have  heat  of  blood,  and  youth  apt  to  ambition, 
To  plead  an  easy  pardon  for  what's  past ; 
But  all  the  ills  beyond  this  hour  committed, 
From  gods  or  men  must  hope  for  no  excuse. 

dexteras  matri  date, 
date  dum  piae  sunt,     error  inuitos  adhuc 
fecit  nocentes,  omne  fortunae  fuit 
peccantis  in  uos  crimen :  hoc  primum  nefas 
inter  scientes  geritur.  {l^kebais  450-4.) 

and  again 

Why  dost  thou  tremble, 
And  with  a  fearful  eye,  fix'd  on  thy  brother, 
Observ'st  his  ready  sword,  as  bent  against  thee  ? 
I  am  thy  armour,  and  will  be  pierc'd  through 
Ten  thousand  times,  before  I  will  give  way 
To  any  peril  may  arrive  at  thee  ; 
And  therefore  fear  not. 

quo  uultus  refers 
acieque  pauida  f ratris  .obseruas  manum  1 
adfusa  totum  corpus  amplexu  tegam 
tuo  cruori  per  meum  fiet  uia. 
quid  dubius  haeres  ?  an  times  matris  fidem  ? 

{Thehais  473-7.) 

Soph,  {returning  the  sivord) 

Take  it  again,  and  stand  upon  your  guard, 
And,  while  your  brother  is,  continue  arm'd. 

redde  iam  capulo  manum, 
adstringe  galeam,  laeua  se  clipeo  ingerat, 
dum  frater  est  armatus,  armatus  mane.    {Thehais  480-2.) 


120  The  Influence  of  Seneca 

You  doubt  him  ;  he  fears  you  ;  I  doubt  and  fear 

Both,  for  [the]  other's  safety,  not  my  own. 

Know  yet,  my  sons,  when  of  necessity 

You  must  deceive  or  be  deceiv'd,  'tis  better 

To  suffer  treason  than  to  act  the  traitor ; 

And  in  a  war  like  this,  in  which  the  glory 

Is  his  that's  overcome.     Consider,  then. 

What  'tis  for  which  you  strive  :  is  it  the  dukedom  1 

Or  the  command  of  these  so  ready  subjects  1 

Desire  of  wealth  1     or  whatsoever  else 

Fires  your  ambition  ?     'tis  still  desperate  madness. 

To  kill  the  people  which  you  would  be  lords  of  : 

With  fire  and  sword  to  lay  that  country  waste 

Whose  rule  you  seek  for ;  to  consume  the  treasures, 

Which  are  the  sinews  of  your  government, 

In  cherishing  the  factions  that  destroy  it : 

Far,  far  be  this  from  you  !  make  it  not  question'd 

Whether  you  can  have  interest  in  that  dukedom 

Whose  ruin  both  contend  for. 

ille  te  ttt  ilium  times, 
ego  utrumque,  sed  pro  utroque... 
id  gerere  bellum  cupitis  in  quo  e^fc  optimum 
I'inci.     uereris  fratris  infesti  dolos  ? 
quotiens  neces,se  est  fallereaut  falli  a  suis, 
patiare  potius  ipse  quam  facias  seel  us. 

■  «■  •••  •■•  •■•  •••  .*■' 

quis  tenet  mentem  furor  ? 
petendo  patriam  perdis  1  ut  fiat  tua, 
uis  esse  nullam  ?  quin  tuae  causae  nocet 
ipsum  hoc  quod  annis  uertis  infestis  solum 
segetesque  adustas  sternis  et  totos  fugam 
edis  per  agros :  nemo  sic  uastat  sua. 
quae  corripi  igne  quae  meti  gladio  iubes 
aliena  credis  ?  rex  sit  e  nobis  uter 
manente  regno  quaerite.         {Thehais  488-494,  557-565.) 


on  EUzahethan  Tragedjj.  121 

It  should  be  noted  that  Mr.  Ohphant,  Mr.  Boyle,  massingeh, 
and  Mr.  Bullen  agree  in  ascribing  the  above  passage  to 
Massinger,  who  is  more  nearl}^  allied  to'  Seneca  than 
Beaumont  and  Fletcher,  his  genius  being,  as  Dr.  Ward 
remarks,  "  essentially  rhetorical,"  He  is  not  entirely 
free  from  bombast,^  and  in  some  of  his  plays  he  relies 
for  dramatic  effect  upon  the  physical  horrors  which 
we  have  remarked  as  the  chief  characteristic  of  the 
English  school  of  Seneca.  Nothing  could  be  more 
repulsive  than  the  outrage  done  to  the  dead  body  of 
Marcelia  in  The  DuJce  of  Milan  ;  and  the  theme  of 
The  Unnatural  Combat  is  bloody  and  horrible  enough. 
The  conclusion  of  the  latter  drama  is  brought  about  in  a 
manner  worthy  of  the  most  devoted  imitator  of  Seneca's 
ghosts  and  crude  horrors,  the  stage  direction  reading : — 
"Enter  the  Ghost  of  young  Malefort,  naked  from  the 
waist,  full  of  wounds,  leading  in  the  Shadow  of  a  Lady, 
her  face  leprous."  Soneca  is  mentioned  two  or  three 
times  in  different  plays,"^  and  I  have  noted  one  or  two 
parallels  in  addition  to  the  extract  from  The  Bloodij  Brother 
quoted  above;  but  they  are  not  very  striking.  The  % 
following  passages  express  ideas  derived  from  Seneca, 
but  by  Massinger's  time  long  familiar  to  the  English 
drama.     The  DuJce  of  Milan,  I.  3  : — 

The  only  blessing  that 
Heaven  hath  bestowed  on  us,  more  than  on  beasts, 

^  e.  g.  Sforza  in   Tlie  Duhe  of  Milan,  V.  2  ;    Slave  in  The    Virgin 
Martyr,  IV.  1. 

3  7'A<J  Maid  of  Ho^iour,  IV.  3;  The  Roman  Actor,  III.  2. 


123  The  Influence  of  Seneca 

Is,  that  'tis  in  our  pleasure  wheu  to  die. 
Besides,  were  I  now  in  another's  power, 
There  are  so  many  ways  to  let  out  life, 
I  would  not  live,  for  one  short  minute,  his  ; 
I  was  born  only  yours,  and  I  will  die  so. 

The  Bashful  Lover,  IV.  1  :— 

HoRT.    Virtue's  but  a  word ; 

Fortune  rules  all. 
Mat.       We  are  her  tennis  balls. 

Massinger  is  not,  however,  a  thoroagli-goiug  fatalist 
like  Ford,  Webster,  and  Tourneur.  His  general  attitude 
is  more  correctly  represented  by  the  concluding  speech 
of  Lorenzo  in  the  play  just  quoted  : — 

Fortune  here  hath  shown 
Her  various  power ;  but  virtue,  in  the  end, 
Is  crown'd  with  laurel. 

Another  mark  of  the  influence  of  Seneca  is  to  be 
found  less  clearly  in  Massinger  than  in  some  of  his  con- 
temporaries—the steadfastness  with  which  the  characters 
meet  death.  This  is  not  so  characteristic  of  Massinger 
as  of  the  Seneca  school  proper ;  but  instances  of  it  are 
not  wanting.  The  converts  in  The  Christian  Martyr  of 
coui*se  meet  death  with  Christian  fortitude ;  and  the 
calmness  of  Antiochus  in  Believe  as  you  List  is  nothing 
more  than  we  should  expect  from  his  royal  character  and 
Stoical  training.  It  is  more  to  the  point  to  note  that 
Francisco,  the  villain  in  The  Duke  of_Milan^_mee\s  death 


on   EUzahctlian  Tragedy,.  123 

updannted  ;  and  see  also  the  beautiful  song  with  which 
Eudocia  in  The  Emperor  of  the  East,  Y.  3  welcomes  "  the 
long  and  quiet  sleep  of  death." 


Shirley,    tlie   hist   of  the   ciant   race,    marks    the  ^^'^^^-s^*' 


emancipation  of  English  tragedy  from  the  authority  of 
Seneca,  except  so  far  as  regards  the  character  of  his 
themes.  The  subjects  of  his  tragedies  are  still  themes  of 
lust  and  blood,  and  it  would  be  hard  to  find  a  more 
striking  example  of  heaped-up  horrors  than  the  con- 
clusion of  The  Traitor.  Still,  as  Mr.  Dyce  remarks,  "  in  ^ 
only  one  of  his  plays,  St.  Patrick  for  Ireland,  is  super- 
natural agency  employed ;  and  in  not  one  of  them  does 
a  ghost  make  its  appearance."  Again,  Seneca's  phil- 
sophy  had  little  or  no  effect  upon  Shirley.  He  was  not 
a  fatalist,  and  his  characters  are  far  from  Stoical.  His 
most  determined  hero,  Sciarrha,  says,  in  The  Traitor, 
IV.  2 :— 

Although  I  never  fear VI  to  suffer,  I 
Am  not  so  foolish  to  despise  a  life. 

— a  very  different  sentiment  to  the  eagerness  for  death 
represented  by  the  followers  of  Seneca.  The  Cardinal, 
again,  ends  his  wicked  life  with  the  despairing  cry  :-- 

If  you  but  waft  me  with  a  little  prayer ; 

My  wings  that  flag  might  catch  the  wind  ;  but  'tis 

In  vain,  the  mist  is  risen,  and  there's  none 

To  steer  my  wandering  bark. 

—a  striking  contrast  to  the  fearlessness   in  face  of  death 


124  The  Injfucncc  of  Seneca 

shown  by  the  desperate  villains  of  Webster,  whose  style 
Shirley  is  thought  to  have  imitated  in  The  Cardinal. 

condmion.  With  Shirley  onr  survey  of  the  drama  closes.     We 

might  go  further,  and  inquire  into  the  influence  Seneca 
had,  at  first  or  second  hand,  upon  Milton's  conception  of 
tragedy  ;  we  might  attempt  to  estnuate  Dryden's  indebted- 
ness to  Seneca,  and  examine  the  imitations  or  adaptations 
of  Seneca  by  Crowne,  Thomson,  and  Glover.  The 
influence  of  Seneca  was  paramount  in  English  tragedy  till 
far  into  the  eighteenth  century.  It  is  little  more  than  a 
hundred  years  since  Greek  literature  began  to  exert  a 
broad  and  steady  influence  on  our  poetry.  Professor  J. 
W.  Hales  observes  in  an  article  on  "  The  Last  Decade 
of  the  Last  Century  "  in  the  current^  number  of  the 
Conteniporanj  Bevleiv  that  '•  the  critics  and  authors  of  the 
eighteenth  century  are  for  ever  talking  about  the  classics  ; 
but,  if  we  observe  their  remarks,  we  shall  find  for 
the  most  part  that  they  mean  the  Latin  classics — that 
tliey  have  little  or  no  real  acqiiaintance  with  the  Greek. 

If  we  take  a  glance  at  the  classical  tragedies 

that  were  in  esteem,  we  find  they  belong  to  the 
school  of  Seneca  rather  than  that  of  Sophocles."  But 
it  does  not  seem  worth  while  to  prove  this  by  detailed 
examination.  The  importance  of  Seneca's  influence  on 
the  drama  is  at  an  end,  and  it  only  remains  for  us  to  sum 
up  its  abiding  results,  which  we  find  chiefly  in  the  stage 
traditions   which  have    come   down  to   our   own    day. 


September,  1892. 


on    Eiizahethan  Traqedy,  125 

Seneca's  live  acts  are  still  with  us,  and  we  have  a 
curious  survival  from  the  classical  drama  in  the  operatic 
chorus.  Our  conception  of  tragedy  still  leads  us  to 
expect  deeds  of  violence  and  blood,  vividly  presented  in 
highly  wrought  scenes,  and  weighted  with  well-expressed 
thought.  )Mr.  Symonds  seems  to  me  to  undervalue  the 
reflective  element  which  the  authoritvof  Seneca  induced  in 
Ehzabethan  tragedy.  He  is  inclined  to  lay  it  down  as  a 
principle  that  "  in  proportion  as  a  dramatist  lends  himself 
to  the  compilation  of  ethical  anthologies,  in  that  very 
measure  he  is  an  inferior  master  of  his  craft."  Seeing 
that  an  industrious  compiler  has  found  no  less  than  2,700 
*•  mottoes  and  aphorisms"  in  Shakspere,  Mr.  Symonds' 
standard,  if  rigidly  applied,  would  S3em  to  endanger  the 
fame  of  the  greatest  of  the  EHzabethans ;  and  such  a 
result  is  enough  to  call  for  a  revision  of  the  standard  of 
judgement.  In  his  Guide  to  Greek  Tragcdij,  Dr.  Campbell 
has  some  admirable  remarks  showing  that  the  element 
of  ethical  reflection  "  enteis  almost  necessarily  into 
all  tragedy  ;"  he  says  further  that  all  great  tragedy  is  at 
once  individual  and  universal.  Seneca  often  loses  sight 
of  the  individual  in  the  universal ;  but  the  tendency  of 
the  popular  drama  in  England  w^ould  have  been  in  the 
opposite  direction,  and  in  correcting  this  tendency  Seneca 
seem  to  me  to  have  done  good  service  to  the  Elizabethan 
drama,  giving  it  permanent  value,  for  the  study  as  well 
as  for  the  stage.  That  Seneca  misled  English  dramatists 
into  violence  and  exaggeration  cannot  be  denied ;  but 
these  are  faults  which  have  their  favourable  side.  If 
Ehzabethan    tragedy   is     sometimes     too    sensational, 


126  The  Iiifiwnce  of  Senccu- 

it  ia very  seldom  dull;  and  if  its  diction  is  sometimes 
extravagant,  it  is  rarely  inadequate  to  the  needs  of 
Uie  situation,  however  tremeudous  the  tragic  crisis 
may  be.  What  English  tragedy  would  have  been 
without  the  examj^le  of  Seneca,  it  is  hard  to  imagine  ; 
its  developement  from  the  miracle  plays  and  moralities 
must  have  been  exceedingly  slow ;  and  if  the  impulse 
had  come  from  other  European  nations,  it  would  only 
have  been  the  influence  of  Seneca  at  second  hand,  in  the 
case  of  France  with  exaggerated  artificiality,  in  the  case 
of  Italy  with  exaggerated  horrors.  Even  the  direct 
imitation  of  Greek  tragedy,  in  all  the  perfection  ol 
Sophocles,  might  not  have  been  an  unmixed  blessing ; 
but,  after  all,  literary  criticism  is  concerned,  not  with 
what  might  have  been,  but  with  what  was ;  and  that  the 
influence  of  Seneca  was  paramount  in  the  origin  and 
developement  of  Elizabethan  tragedy  has  been  proved  by 
the  testimony  of  contemporary  critics,  and  by  the  still 
more  convincing  evidence  oX  tiie  tragedies  themselves. 


on   Elizaheilian  Tragedy.  127 


APPENDIX    I. 


Latin  Quotations  from  Seneca 
in  Elizabethan  Tragedies. 

Sm   THOMAS  MO  BE. 

XJbi  turpis  est  medicina,  sanari  piget.     (Oedipus  530.) 

Humida  vallis  raros  patitur  fulminis  ictus.      [Hippolytus  1141-2.) 

Curae  leues  loquuntur,  ingeutes  stupent.     (Hlppolyhis  615.) 

The  last  quotation  also  occurs  in  The  Bctimi  from 
rarnassus,  and  in  Tourneur's  Revenger's  Tragedg,  majores 
being  inserted  in  the  latter  case  instead  of  the  correct 
reading  ingeutes, 

THE  TRUE  TRAGEDY  OF  RICHARD  III. 

Quisquam  regua  gaudit,  6  fallex  bonum. 

[quisquamne  regno  gaudet  1     o  fallax  bonum.      {Oedipus  6.)] 

KYD'S  SPANISH  TRAGEDY. 

Per  scelus  semper  tutum  est  sceleribus  iter. 

[per  scelera  semper  sceleribus  tutum  est  iter.    (Agamemnon  116.)] 

Fata  si  miseros  juvant,  habes  salutem  ; 

Fata  si  vitam  negant,  habes  sepulchrum.     (Troas  518-520.) 


128  The  Influence  of  Seneca 

MARLOWE'S  EDWARD  II, 

Quern  dies  vidit  veniens  superbum, 

Hunc  dies  vidit  fugieus  jacentem.       {TJiyestes  613-4.) 

TITUS  ANDRONICUS. 

Sit  fas  aut  nefas... 

Per  Styga,  per  manes  vehor. 

[et  te  per  undas  perque  tartareos  lacus 

per  Styga  per  amnes  igneos  amens  sequar.     (Illj^polt/tus  1188-9.)] 

Magni  Dominator  poli, 

Tam  lentus  audis  scelera  1     tain  lentus  vides  1 

[magne  regnator  deum, 
tam  lentus  audis  scelera?  tam  lentus  uidos  ?  (Hippoli/tus  679-80.)] 

MARSTON'S  ANTONIO  AND  MELLIDA. 

Dimitto  superos,  summa  votorura  attigi.     [Thyestes  891.) 

Capienda  rebus  in  mails  praecep3  via  est.      {Agamemnon  155.) 

Scelera  non  ulcisceris,  nisi  vin^is.     (Thyestes  195-6.) 

0  quisquis  nova 
Supplicia  functis  dirus  umbrarum  arbiter 
Disponis,  quisquis  exeso  jaces 
Pavidus  sub  antro,  quisquis  venturi  times 
Montis  ruinam,  quisquis  avidorum  feros 
Rictus  leonum,  et  dira  furiarum  agmina 
Implicitus  horres,  Antonii  vocem  excipe 
Properantis  ad  vos. 

[Thijestes  13-15  and  75-81  ruQ  together,  with  Antonii  put 
instead  of  Tantcdi.] 


on  Elizabethan  Tragedy^  129 

Venit  in  nostras  manus 
Tandem  vindicta,  venit  et  tota  quidein.     {ThjesUs  494-5.) 

[Vincllcta tota  =  Thjestes.... totm  in  Seneca.] 

Venit  dies,  tempusque,  quo  reddat  suis 
Animam  squalentem  sceleribus.     {Octavia  641-2.) 

[Venit  =  veniet,  squalentem  =  Jiocentem.] 


THE  MALCOKTEXT. 

Unde  cadis,  non  quo,  refert. 

[magis  unde  cadas  quam  quo  refert.     {Thyestes  929.)] 

Praemium  incertum  petit  certum  scelus.     (77tebais  632-3.) 

Per  scelera  semper  sceleribus  tutum  est  itev.     {Agamemnon  110.) 

THE  FAWF. 

Qui  jiiuiis  notus  omnibus 

Ignotus  moritur  sibi.     {Thyestes  402-3.) 

Fatis  agimur,  cedite  fatis.     (Oedipus  1001.) 


c^^ 
^ 


130  Th  Influence  of  Seneca 

APPENDIX  II. 

Imitations    of    Seneca 

IN 

THE  MISFORTUNES  OF  ARTHUB. 

The  pages  refer  to  Vol.  IV  of  Eazlitt's  Dodsleij. 
There  are  37  h'nes  in  a  full  page,  which  will  give  the 
reader  some  idea  of  the  proportion  of  borrowed  lines. 
In  some  cases  half  or  more  than  half  the  page  is 
borrowed.^  Besides  the  passages  given,  there  are  many 
which  seem  to  have  been  suggested  by  Seneca ;  but  I 
have  only  thought  those  worthy  of  record  in  which  the. 
imitation  is  obvious. 

Page  264.     Let  mischiefs  know  no  mean,  nor  plagues  an  end  ! 
Let  th'  offspring's  sin  exceed  the  former  stock  ! 
Let  none  have  time  to  hate  his  former  fault. 
But  still  with  fresh  supply  let  punish'd  crime 
Increase,  till  time  it  make  a  complete  sin. 

nee  sit  irarum  modus 
pudorue :  mentes  caecus  instiget  furor, 
rabies  parentum  duret  et  longum  nefas 
eat  in  nepotes.     nee  uacet  cuiquam  uetus 
odisse  crimen  :  semper  oriatur  nouum 
nee  unum  in  uno,  dumque  punitur  scelus, 
crescat.  {Thyesies  26-32.) 


On  page  266  there  ai'e  not  half  a  dozen  original  lines, 


on  EUzahethan  Tragedy.  131 

Page  264     Go  to  :  some  fact,  which  no  age  shall  allow 

(continued),     -v-^  ,  ^ 

JS  or  yet  conceal — 

age  anime  fac  quod  nulla  posteritas  probet, 

sed  nulla  taceat.  {Thyestes  192-3.) 

Page  265.     Attempt  some  bloody,  dreadful,  irksome  fact, 
And  such  as  Mordred  would  were  rather  his. 

aliquod  audendum  est  nefas 
atrox  cruentum  tale  quod  frater  meus 
suum  esse  malit.  {lltyesks  193-5.) 

Page  206.     Frame  out  some  trap  beyond  all  vulgar  guile, 
Beyond  Medea's  wiles  :  attempt  some  fact, 
That  any  wight  unwieldy  of  herself. 
That  any  spouse  unfaithful  to  her  pheer. 
Durst  e'er  attempt  in  most  despair  of  weal. 
Spare  no  revenge,  b'  it  poison,  knife,  or  fire  ! 

tecum  ipsa  nunc  euolue  femineos  dolos, 

quod  uUa  coniunx  perfida  atque  impos  sui 

amore  caeco,  quod  nouercales  manus 

ausae,  quod  ardens  impia  uirgo  face 

phasiaca  f  ugiens  regna  thessalica  trabe  : 

ferrum  uenena.  {Agamemnon  117-122.) 


>> 


The  wrath  that  breatheth  blood  doth  loathe  to  lurk, 
cum  spirat  ira  sanguinem  nescit  tegi.         {Thyestea  504.) 

I  am  disdain'd :  so  will  I  not  be  long. 
That  very  hour  that  he  shall  first  arrive, 
Shall  be  the  last  that  shall  afford  him  life. 

iam  displicemus,  capta  praelata  est  mihi. 
non  praeferetur  :  qui  dies  thalami  ultimus 
nostri  est  futurus,  hie  erit  uitae  tuae. 

{Herctdes  Oetaeus  307-9.) 


132  The  Injfncncc  of  Seneca 

Page  266     Thougli  neither  seas,  nor  lands,  nor  wars  abroad 
(cvntinncd).    g^gg^^g^j  f^^  thy  foil,  yet  slialt  thou  find 

Far  worse  at  home — thy  deep-displeased  spouse. 

Whate'er  thou  hast  subdued  in  all  thy  stay 

This  hand  shall  now  subdue. 

gesseris  caelum  licet 
totusque  pacem  dcbeat  mundus  tibi : 
est  aliquid  hydra  peius  iratae  dolor 
nuptae.     quis  ignis  tantus  in  caelum  furit 
ardentis  Aetnae  ?     quicquid  est  uictum  tibi 
hie  uincet  animus.  {Hercules  Oetaeus  285-290.) 


» 


jj 


What's  this  1  my  mind  recoils  and  irks  these  threats  : 
Anger  delays,  my  grief  gins  to  assuage, 
My  fury  faints,  and  sacred  wedlock's  faith 
Presents  itself.     Why  shunnst  thou  fearful  wrath? 
Add  coals  afresh  :  preserve  me  to  this  venge. 

quid  hoc  1  recedit  animus  et  ponit  minas, 
iam  cessit  ira.     quid  miser  langues  dolor  1 
perdis  furorem,  coniugis  sanctae  fidem 
mihi  reddis  iterum.     quid  uetas  flammas  ali  ? 
quid  frangis  ignes  1  hunc  mihi  serua  impel  urn. 

{Hercules  Oetaeus  310-314.) 

At  least  exile  thyself  to  realms  unknown, 
And  steal  his  wealth  to  help  thy  banish'd  state ; 
For  flight  is  best,     O  base  and  heartless  fear ! 
Theft?  Exile  ?  Flight  ?  all  these  may  fortune  send 
Unsought ;  but  thee  beseems  more  high  revenge. 

uel  mycenaea  domo 
coniuncta  socio  profuge  furtiua  rate, 
quid  timida  loqueris  f urta  ct  exilium  et  f ugas  1 
sors  ista  fecit,     te  decet  maius  nefas. 

{Agamemnon  122-5.) 


on    Ellzahethan  Tragedy.  133 


Page  266     Come,  spiteful  fiends,  come,  heaps  of  furies  fell. 


(continued). 


Not  one  by  one,  but  all  at  once  1  my  breast 


Page  267.     Raves  not  enough  :  it  likes  me  to  be  fill'd 
With  greater  monsters  yet. 

dira  furiarum  coliors 
discorsque  Erinnys  ueniat  et  geminas  faces 
Megaera  quatiens.     non  satis  magno  meum 
ardet  furore  pectus,  impleri  iuuat 
maiore  monstro.  {Thyestes  250-254.) 

J,  My  heart  doth  throb. 

My  liver  boils  :  soniewh'at  my  mind  portends, 
Uncertain  what ;  but  whatsoever,  it's  huge.  . 

nescio  quid  animus  maius  et  solito  amplius 

supraque  fines  moris  humani  tumct 

instatque  pigris  manibus.     baud  quid  sit  scio, 

sed  grande  quiddam  est.  (Thyestes  267-270.) 

„  Omit  no  plague,  and  none  will  be  enough. 

nullum  rclinquam  facinus  et  nullum  est  satis. 

{Thyestes  256.) 

„  Wrong  cannot  be  reveng'd  but  by  excess. 

scelera  non  ulcisceris 
nisi  uincis.  {Thyestes  195-6.) 

,)  Fron.  Is  there  no  mean  in  wrong  ? 

GuEN.     Wrong  claims  a  mean,  when  fix'st  you  offer  wrong 
The  mean  is  vain  when  wrong  is  in  revenge. 

Thy.  sceleris  est  aliquis  modus. 

Atr.       sceleri  modus  debetur,  itbi  facias  scelus, 

non  ubi  rcponas.  {Thyestes  1055'7») 


13'i  The  Ivjiucncc  of  Seneca 


Page  267     Great  harms  cannot  be  hid  :  the  grief  is  small, 

(continued),     mi.  •  i    •  t     -l     \£ 

J  hat  can  receive  advice,  or  rule  itseli. 

leuis  est  dolor  qui  capere  consilium  potest 

et  clepere  sese,  magna  non  latitant  mala.    (Medea  155-6,) 


„  Hatred  concealed  doth  often  lap  to  hurt, 

But  once  profess'd,  it  oft'ner  fails  revenge. 

ira  quae  tegitur  nocet, 
professa  perdunt  odia  uindictae  locum,      {Medea  1534.) 

„  Unlawful  love  doth  like,  when  lawful  loathes, 

inlicita  amantur,  excidit  quicquid  licet. 

{Hercules  Oetaeus  360.) 

Page  268.     Fron.     How  can  you  then  attempt  a  fresh  offence  1 
GuEN.     Who  can  appoint  a  stint  to  her  offence  ? 

KvT,      piget  prioris  et  nouum  crimen  struis  1 
Cly,       res  est  profecto  stulta  nequitiae  modus. 

{xigameinnon  150-151.) 

„  Whom  Gods  do  press,  they  bend  ;  whom  man  annoys. 

He  breaks. 

caelestis  ira  quos  premit,  miseros  facit, 

humana  nullos.  {Hercules  Oetaeus  444-5.) 


)) 


Your  grief  is  more  than  his  deserts. 

Each  fault  requires  an  equal  hate  :  be  not  severe, 

Where  crimes  be  light.     As  you  have  felt,  so  grieve. 

maior  admisso  tuus 
alumna  dolor  est :  culpa  par  odium  exigat. 
cur  saeua  modice  statuis  ?    ut  passa  es  dole, 

{Hercules  Oetaeus  447-9.) 


on  EUzahthan  Tragedy,  135 

Page  269,     Well,  shame  is  not  so  quite  cxil'd,  but  that 
I  can  and  will  respect  your  sage  advice. 

non  omnis  animo  cescit  ingenuo  pudor  : 

paremus  altrix.  {Hippolytus  255-6.) 


The  love,  that  for  his  rage  will  not  be  rul'd, 
Must  be  restrain'd  :  fame  shall  receive  no  foil. 

qui  regi  non  uidt  amor 
uincatur.     haud  te  fama  maculari  sinam. 

{Ilippolytus  256-7.) 

Her  breast,  not  yet  appeas'd  from  former  rage, 
Hath  chang'd  her  wrath  which,  wanting  means  to  work 
Another's  woe  (for  such  is  fury's  wont), 
Seeks  out  his  own,  and  raves  upon  itself. 

nOndum  tumultu  pectus  attonitum  caret 

mutauit  iras  quodque  habet  proprium  furor, 

in  se  ipse  saeuit.  {^Hercules  Furens  1226-8.) 

Thereby  the  rather  you  deserve  to  live 
For  seeming  worthy  iji  yourself  to  die. 

dignam  ob  hoc  uita  reor 
quod  esse  temet  autumas  dignam  nece.   {Hijypolytus  261-2.) 


„  Death  is  decreed,  what  kind  of  death,  I  doubt : 

Page  270.     Whether  to  drown  or  stifle  up  this  breath, 
Or  forcing  blood  to  die  with  dint  of  knife. 

decreta  mors  est ;  quaeritur  fati  genus, 
laqueone  uitam  finiam  an  forro  incubem  1 

(FRppoIytus  263-4.) 


186  The  Influence  of  Seneca 


Page  270     All  hope  of  prosperous  liap  is  gone..  My  fame, 
(con  mue  ).    ]\f y*  f .^j j]^^  ^y  gpouse — no  goocl  is  left  luilost ! 

cuncta  jam  amisi  bona  : 
mcntem  arma  famam  coniugem.  (^Hercules  Farens  1266-7.) 


» 


» 


}? 


»> 


Myself  am  left :  there's  left  hoth  seas  and  lands, 
And  sword,  and  fire  and  chains,  and  choice  of  harms. 

Medea  superest,  hie  mare  et  terras  uides 

ferrumque  et  ignes  et  deos  et  fulmina.       (Medea  166-7.) 

Who  now  can  heal 
My  maimed  mind  1    It  must  be  heal'd  by  death. 

nemo  polluto  queat 
animo  mederi.     morte  sanandum  est  scelus. 

(Hercules  Furens  1268-9.) 

Alone  you  may  not  die,  with  me  you  may. 

perire  sine  me  non  potes,  rnecum  potes.         (Thehais  66.) 

They  that  will  drive  th'  unwilling  to  their  death, 
Or  frustrate  death  in  those  that  fiiin  would  die, 
OfFeiid  alike. 

qui  cogit  mori 
nolentem  in  aequo  est  quique  propei'antem  itipedit. 

{Thehais  98-99.) 

Ang.     But  will  my  tears  and  mournings  move  you  nought? 
GuEN.  Then  is  it  best  to  die  when  friends  do  mourn. 

Thes.  lacrimae  nonne  te  nostrae  mouent  ? 

Phae.    mors  optima  est  perire  lacrimant  duin  sui. 

{Hippolytus  888-9.) 


on  EUzahethan  Tragedy.  137 

Page  270     Each-wliere  is  death  !  the  fates  ha^e  well  ordam'd, 
{coninue  ).    rpj^^^  Qa,Q\i  man  may  bereave  himself  of  life, 
But  none  of  death :  death  is  so  sure  a  doom, 
A  thousand  ways  do  guide  us  to  our  graves. 

ubique  mors  est.     optume  hoc  cauit  deus. 

eripere  uitam  nemo  non  homini  potest, 

at  nemo  mortem  :  mille  ad  hanc  aditus  patent. 

{Thelcm  151-3.) 

„  Who  then  can  ever  come  too  late  to  that. 

Whence,  when  he  is  come,  he  never  can  return? 

Or  what  avails  to  hasten  on  our  ends. 

And  Ions:  for  that  which  destinies  have  sworn  ! 

nemo  ad  id  sero  uenit  unde  numquam, 
cum  semel  uenit,  potuit  reuerti. 
quid  iuuat  dirum  properare  fatum? 

[Hercules  Furens  869-871.) 

Page  271.     Death  is  an  end  of  pain,  no  pain  itself. 

de  fine  poenae  loqucris,  ego  poenam  uolo.     {Thytstes  246.) 


)> 


Is  't  meet  a  plague  for  such  excessive  wrcng 
Should  be'  so  short  ?     Should  one  stroke  answer  all  ? 
\SoUloqiixzes\     And  would'st  thou  die  ?  well,  that  contents 

the  laws : 
What,  then,  for  Arthur's  ire?     What  for  thy  fame. 
Which  thou  hast    stain'd?     What    for  thy    stock    thou 

sham'st  ? 
Not  death  nor  life  can  alone  give  a  full 
Revenge  :  join  both  in  one — die  and  yet  live. 
Where  pain  may  not  be  oft,  let  it  be  long. 
Seek  out  some  lingeiing  death,  whereby  thy  corpse 
May  neither  touch  the  dead  nor  joy  the  quick, 
pie,  but  no  common  death  :  pass  nature's  boui;ds, 


188  The  Influence  of  Seneca 

itane  ?    tam  magnis  breues 
poenas  sceleribus  soluis  atque  uno  onmia 
pensabis  ictu  ?     moreris  :  hoc  patri  sat  est. 
quid  deinde  matri,  quid  male  in  lucem  editis 
gnatis,  quid  ipsi  quae  tuum  magna  luit 
scelus  ruina  flebilis  patriae  dabis  1 
Boluenda  non  est  ilia  quae  leges  ratas 
natura  in  uno  uertit  Oedipode  nouos 
commenta  partus,  snpplicis  cadem  meis 
nouetur.     iterum  uiuere  atque  iterum  mori 
liceat  renasci  semper,  ut  totiens  noua 
supplicia  pendas.     utere  ingenio  miser, 
quod  saepe  fieri  non  potest  fiat  diu. 
mors  eligatur  longa.     quaeratur  uia 
qua  nee  sepultis  mixtus  et  uiuis  tamen 
exemptus  erres.     morere  sed  citra  patrem. 

(Oedipus  957-972.) 


Paf'e  271     The  mind  and  not  the  chance  doth  make  th'  unchaste. 

(continued  X 

mens  inpudicam  facere  non  casus  solet.    (IIi2-)2')olytus  74-3.) 


Then  is  your  fault  from  fate ;  you  rest  excus'd. 
None  can  be  deemed  faulty  for  her  fate. 

fati  ista  culpa  est.     nemo  fit  fato  nocens.    (Oedipus  1041.) 


« 


» 


Impute  mishaps  to  fates,  to  manners  faults. 

nam  monstra  fato,  moribus  scelera  inputes. 

(Hippolytus  149.) 

A  mighty  error  oft  hath  seem'd  a  sin. 

saepe  error  ingens  sceleris  optinuit  locum. 

(Hercules  Fur  ens  \1\.x>.^ 


Oh  EUzahethan  Tragedy.  139 

Page  272,     The  hour,  which  erst  I  always  feared  most 
The  certain  ruin  of  luy  desperate  state, 
Is  happened  now  !  why  turn'st  thou  (mind)  thy  back  ? 
Why  at  the  first  assault  dost  thou  recoil  ? 
Trust  to  't,  the  angry  heavens  contrive  some  spite, 
And  dreadful  doom  t'  augment  thy  cursed  hap. 
Oppose  to  each  revenge  thy  guilty  head, 

quod  tempus  animo  semper  ac  mente  horrui, 
adest  profecto  rebus  extremum  meis. 
quid  terga  uertis  anime  1     quid  primo  impetu 
deponis  arma  1     crede  perniciem  tibi 
et  dira  saeuos  fata  moliri  deos. 
oppone  cunctis  uile  suppliciis  caput.  (Agamemnon  227-232.) 

Page  273.     What  shouldst  thou  fear,  that  see'st  not  what  to  hope? 

qui  nil  potest  sperare,  desperet  nihil.  {Medea  163.) 

cui  ultima  est  fortuna,  quid  dubium  timet? 

(Agamemnon  147.) 

,,  He  safely  stands,  that  stands  beyond  his  harms. 

cuius  baud  ultra  mala 
exire  possunt  in  loco  tuto  est  situs.  (Thebais  198-9.) 


a 


Thine  (death)  is  all  that  east  and  west  can  see  ; 
For  thee  we  live,  our  coming  is  not  long  ! 
Spai'e  us  but  whiles  we  may  prepare  our  graveSi 
Though  thou  wert  slow,  we  hasten  of  ourselves, 
The  hour  that  gave  did  also  take  our  lives. 

tibi  crescit  omne, 
et  quod  occasus  uidet  et  quod  ortus. 
parce  uenturis.     tibi  mors  paramur, 
9is  licet  segnis,  properamus  ipsi. 
prima  quae  uitam  dedit  hora,  carpit> 

{Heresies  Furens  8T4-8,} 


140  The  In  thence  of  Seneca 

Page  273     My  fear  is  past,  and  wedlock  love  hath  won. 
Retire  we  thither  yet,  whence  first  we  ought 
Not  to  have  stirr'd.     Call  back  chaste  faith  again. 
The  way  that  leads  to  good  is  ne'er  too  late  : 
Who  so  repents  is  guiltless  of  his  crimes. 

amor  iugalis  uincit  ac  flectit  retro, 
remeomus  illuc,  unde  non  decuit  prius 
abire.     sed  nunc  casta  repetatur  fides, 
nam  sera  nuniquam  est  ad  bonos  mores  uia. 
quern  paenitet  pecasse,  poenac  est  innocens. 

(Agamemnon  240-244.) 

Page  274.     Nor  love  nor  sovereignity  can  bear  a  peer. 

nee  regna  socium  ferre  nee  taedae  sciunt. 

(Agamemnon  260.) 

„  Why  dost  thou  still  stir  up  my  flames  delay'd  1 

His  strays  and  errors  must  not  move  my  mind  : 
A  law  for  private  men  binds  not  the  king. 
What,  that  I  ought  not  to  condemn  my  liege, 
Nor  can,  thus  guilty  to  mine  own  offence  ! 
Where  both  have  done  amiss,  both  will  relent : 
He  will  forgive  that  needs  must  be  forgiven. 

Aegisthe  quid  me  rursus  in  praeceps  rapis 
iramque  flammis  iam  residentem  excitas  ? 
permisit  aliquid  uictor  in  captam  sibi : 
nee  coniugem  hoc  respicere  nee  dominam  decet. 
lex  alia  solio  est  alia  priuato  toro. 
quid  quod  seueras  ferre  me  leges  uiro 
non  patitur  animus  turpis  admissi  memor. 
det  ille  ueniam  facile  cui  uenia  est  opus. 

(Agamemnon  261-8.) 


on   UliZiihctUan  Tragcihj.  141 


Page  274     A  judge  severe  to  us,  mild  to  hijuself. 

(continued). 

nobis  maligni  iudices  aequi  sibi.  (Agamemnon  271.) 


His  is  the  crime,  whom  crime  stands  most  in  stead. 

cui  prodest  scehis, 
is  fecit.  (Medea  503-4.) 


Well  should  she  seem  most  guiltless  unto  thee, 
Whate  er  she  be,  that's  guilty  for  thy  sake. 

,tibi  innocens  sit  quisquis  est  pro  te  nocens.     (Medea  506.) 


Page  275.     His  ways  be  blind  that  maketh  chance  his  guide. 

caeca  est  temeritas  quae  petit  casum  ducem. 

(Agamemnon  146.) 


The  safest  passage  is  from  bad  to  worse. 

per  scelera  semper  sceleribus  tutum  est  iter. 

(Agamemnon  116.) 


» 


« 


» 


He  is  a  fool  that  puts  a  mean  in  crimes. 

res  est  profecto  stulta  nequitiae  modus.    (Agamemnon\b\.) 

So  sword  and  fire  will  often  sear  the  sore. 

et  ferrum  et  ignis  saepe  medicinae  loco  est. 

(Agamemnon  163.) 

Extremest  cures  must  not  be  used  first. 

extrema  primo  nemo  temptauit  loco.       (Agamemnon  154.) 


142  The  Infiuence  of  Seneca 


Page  275     In  desperate  times  the  headlong  way  is  best. 

(cuntlaued). 

capienda  rebus  in  malis  praeceps  uia  est. 

(^Aganiemno)i  155.) 


Page  27G.     Mi.'schief  is  sometimes  safe,  but  ne'er  secure, 

scelus  ali(i[ua  tutum,  nulla  securum  tulit.  (Hippoli/tus  169.) 


Cox.     The  wrongful  sceptre'.s  held  with  trembling  hand. 
MoR.     Whose  rule  wants  right,  his  safety's  in  his  sword. 

rapta  sed  trepida  manu 
seeptra  optinentur.     omnis  in  ferro  est  salus. 

[Hercules  Furens  34&-6.) 


1} 


Con.     The  kingliest  point  is  to  aflect  but  right. 

MoR.    Weak  is  the  sceptre's  hold  that  seeks  but  right. 

Sat.      rex  uelit  honesta :  nemo  non  eadem  uolet. 
Atk.     ubicumque  tantum  honesta  dominanti  licent, 

precario  regnatur.  [Thyestes  213-5.) 


Page  277.     Moil.  8he  is  both  light  and  vain. 

Cox.  She  noteth  though. 

MoR.  She  feareth  states. 

Cox.  She  carpeth,  ne'ertheless. 

MoR.  She's  soon  suppress 'd. 

Sex.     leuis  atque  nana. 

Nero.  sit  licet,  multos  notat. 

Sex.     excelsa  metuit. 

Nero.  non  minus  carpit  tamen. 

Sex.     facile  opprimetur.  (Ociavia  596-8.) 


on   EUzahetlian  Tragedy^  143 

Page  282.     Cox.  Nought  should  be  rashly  vow'd  against  your  sire. 

MoR.  Whose  breast  is  free  from  rage  may  soon  b'  ad^dsed. 

Con.  The  best  redress  from  rage  is  to  relent. 

MoR.  'Tis  better  for  a  king  to  kill  his  foes. 

Sex.     in  nihil  propinquos  temere  constitui  decet. 
Nero,  iustum  esse  facile  est  cui  uacat  pectus  metu. 
SiiN.     magnum  timoris  remedium  dementia  est. 
Nero,  extinguere  hostem  maxima  est  uirtus  ducis. 

{Octavia  452-5.) 

Page  283.     Con.     The  subjects'  force  is  great. 

Mop  Greater  the  king's. 

NvTR.  uis  magna  populi  est. 

Oct.  principis  maior  tameu. 

(Octavia  190.) 


» 


ji 


The  more  you  may,  the  more  you  ought  to  fear. 

hoc  plus  uerere  quod  licet  tantum  tibi.       (Octavia  462.) 

MoR.    He  is  a  fool  that  feai'eth  what  he  mav. 

Con.     Not  what  you  may,  but  what  you  ought  is  just. 

Nero,  inertis  est  nescire  quid  liceat  sibi. 

Sex.     id  facere  laus  est  quod  decet,  noa  quod  licet. 

{Octavia  465-6.) 

MoR.    The  laws  do  licence  as  the  soveleign  lists. 
Cox.     Least  ought  he  list,  whom  laws  do  licence  most. 

Pyr.     quodcumque  libuit  facere  uictori,  licet. 
Agam.  minimum  decet  libere  cui  multum  licet. 

{Troas  344-5.) 


144  The  Influence  of  Seneca 


Page  283     Mor.    The  fates  have  heav'd  and  rais'd  my  force  on  high. 
(coniinued).    ^^^      rpj^^  gentler  should  you  press  those  that  are  low. 

quocjue  te  celsum  altius 
superi  leuarunt,  mitius  lapsos  preme.  (Troas  704-5.) 


Page  284.     Mor.  My  will  must  go  for  right. 

Con.  If  they  assent. 

Mor.  My  sword  shall  force  assent. 

Con.  No,  gods  forbid  ! 

Nkro.  statuam  ipse. 

Sen.  quae  consensus  efficiat  rata. 

Nero,  despectus  ensis  faciet. 

Sen.  hoc  absit  nefas.  (Oclavia  472-3.) 

„  Whom  fates  constrain,  let  him  forego  his  bliss  ; 

But  he  that  needless  yields  unto  his  bane, 
When  he  may  shun,  doth  well  deserve  to  lose 
The  good  he  cannot  use. 

quem  fata  cogunt  hie  quidem  uiuat  miser, 

at  si  quis  ultro  se  malis  offert  uolens 

seque  ipse  torquet,  perdere  est  dignus  bona 

quis  nescit  uti.  {Hlppolytus  448-451.) 

Page  285.    Nor  to  destroy  the  realm  you  seek  to  rule. 
Your  father  rear'd  it  up,  you  pluck  it  down. 
You  lose  your  country,  whiles  you  win  it  thus  : 
To  make  it  yours,  you  strive  to  make  it  none. 

ne  precor  ferro  erue 
patriam  ac  penates  neue,  quas  regere  expetis 
euerte  Thebas.     quis  tenet  mentem  furor  ? 
petendo  patriam  perdis  ?  ut  fiat  tua, 
uis  esse  nullam  ?  {Thehais  555-9.) 


on  Elizahefhan  Trogedij.  145 

Page  285     Must  I  to  gain  renown  incur  my  plague, 
""""  ^    Or  hoping  praise  sustain  an  exile's  life?  ^ 

ut  profugus  errem  semper  ?  ut  patria  arcear 

opemque  gentis  hospes  externae  sequar  ?      (Tkebais  ^8&-7,} 


No.  'Tis  my  hap  that  Britain  serves  my  turn ; 
That  fear  of  me  doth  make  the  subjects  crouch ; 
That  what  they  grudge  they  do  constrained  yield. 

munus  deorum  est  ipsa  quod  seruit  mihi 

Roma  let  senatus  quodque  ab  inuitis  preces 

huinilesque  uoces  exprimit  nosiri  nietus.      (Octavut  504-6.) 


Then  is  a  kiniydom  at  a  wished  stav, 

When  whatsoever  the  sovereign  wills  or  nills, 

Men  be  compeU'd  as  well  to  praise  as  bear. 

maximum  hoc  regui  bonum  est, 
♦juod  facta  domini  cogitur  populus  sui 
quam  ferre  tam  laudare.  {Thijfsf''s  205-7.) 


^  These  lines  have  the  following  pasted  over  them  : — - 

The  first  art  m  a  kingdom  is  to  scorn 
The  envy  of  the  realm. 

ars  prima  regni  est  posse  te  inuidiam  pati. 

{^Hercules  Fnrens  357.) 

He  cannot  rule 
That  fears  to  bo  envid.  What  can  divorce 
Envy  from  sovereignty  1 

regnare  non  uult  esse  qui  inuisus  timet. 

simul  ista  mundi  conditcr  poauit  deus 

odium  atque  regnum.  (TJiebais  651-6.) 


146  Tlie  Influence  of  Seneca 

Page  285.     Con.     But  whoso  seeks  true  praise  and  just  renown, 
Page  280.  Would  rather  .seek  their  praising  hearts  t}ian  tongues. 

MoR,    True  praise  may  liappen  to  tlie  basest  groom  ; 

A  forced  praise  to  none  but  to  a  prince. 

I  wish  that  most,  that  subjects  most  repine. 

Sat.      at  qui  fauoris  gloriam  ueri  petit, 

animo  magis  quam  uoce  laudari  uolet. 

Arii.      laus  uera  et  humili  saepe  contingit  uiro, 

non  nisi  potenti  falsa,     quml  nolunt,  uelint. 

{Thyestes  209-212.) 

„  And  better  were  an  exile's  life,  than  thus 

Disloyally  to  wrong  your  sire  and  liege. 

melius  exiliiim  e.st  tibi 
(juam  reditus  iste.  [Thebais  617-8.) 


„  But  cease  at  length  ;  your  speech  molests  me  much. 

My  mind  is  fixM :  give  Mordred  leave  to  do 
What  Conan  neither  can  allow  nor  like. 

desiste  tandem  iam  grauis  nimium  mihi 
instare.     liceat  f acere  quod  Seneca  improbat. 

(Oc^ma  600-601.) 

Page  288.     No  danger  can  be  thought  both  safe  and  oft. 

nemo  se  tuto  diu 
periculis  ofterre  tarn  crebris  potest. 

(^Hercules  Furens  330-331.) 

Whom  chance  hath  often  raissVI,  chance  hits  at  length. 

quem  saepe  transit  casus  aliquando  inuenit. 

{Hercules  Furens  332.) 


on   Elizahethan   Tragedy.  147 

Page  289.  Tf  conquerors  ought 

To  seek  for  peace,  tlie  conquered  must  perforce. 

pacem  reduci  uelle  uictori  expedit, 

uicto  necesse  est.  (Hercules  Furenff  372-3.) 

,,  What  cursed  war.s  (alas)  were  those,  wherein 

Eoth  sou  and  sire  should  so  oppose  themselves! 
Him  whom  you  now,  unhappy  man,  pursue, 
If  you  should  win,  yourself  would  first  bewail. 

quale  tu  id  bellum  putas, 
iu  quo  execrandum  uictor  adinittit  uefas 
si  gaudet?     hunc  quern  uincere  infelix  cupis 
cum  uiceris,  lugebis.  {Thebais  638-641.) 

Page  290.     Trust  me,  a  huge  and  mighty  kingdom  'tis 

To  bear  the  want  of  kingdom,  realm,  and  crown, 

immane  regnum  est  posse  sine  regno  pati.     (Thyesies  470.) 

Wherefore  think  on  the  doubtful  state  of  wars. 
Where  war  hath  sway,  he  keeps  no  certain  course  : 
Sometimes  he  lets  the  weaker  to  prevail, 
Sometimes  the  stronger  troops  :  hope,  fear,  and  rage 
With  eyeless  lot  rules  all  uncertain  good. 
Most  certain  harms  be  his  assured  haps. 

fortuna  belli  semper  ancipiti  in  loco  est. 

quodci;mque  Mars  decernit :  exaequat  duos 

licet  inpares  sint  gladiu.s  et  spes  et  nietus 

sors  caeca  uersafc.     praemium  incertum  petit, 

certum  scelus.  [Thebaic  629-633.) 

„  CtAW.     And  fear  you  not  so  strange  and  uncouth  wars  ? 

MoR.     Ko,  were  they  wars  that  grew  from  out  the  ground  I 

NvTR.     non  inetuis  arma  ? 

Med.  sint  licet  terra  edita.      {Medea  169.) 


148  TJie  Influence  of   Seneea 

Page  290     He  falleth  well,  that  failing  fells  his  foe. 

(rvntiiumi). 

felix  iacet,  quicumque,  quos  odit,  premit. 

[Hercules  Oehieun  353.) 

Page  2i>l.     Small  manhood  were  to  turn  niy  back  to  chance. 

haud  est  uirile  terga  fortunae  dai'e.  {Oedhputs  86.) 

,,  T  bear  no  breast  so  unprepar'd  for  hai*ms. 

non  inparatum  pectus  aerumnis  gero.      {Ilippolytus  1003.) 

„  Even  that  I  hold  the  kingliest  point  of  all, 

To  brook  afflictions  well :  and  by  how  much 
The  more  his  state  and  tottering  empire  sags. 
To  tix  so  much  the  faster  foot  on  ground. 

regium  hoc  ipsum  reor 
aduersa  capere  quoque  sit  dubius  magis 
status  et  cadentis  imperi  moles  labat 
hoc  stare  certo  pressius  fortem  gradu.         {Oedipus  82-85.) 

„  No  fear  but  doth  forejudge,  and  many  fall 

Into  their  fate,  whiles  they  do  fear  their  fate. 

inultis  ipsum  timuisse  nocet. 

multi  ad  fatum  uenere  suum, 

dum  fata  timent.  (Oedipits  1014-16.) 

„  Yea,  worse  than  war  itself  is  fear  of  war. 

peior  est  bello  timer  ipse  belli.  {7'hyestes  572.) 

„  All  things  are  rul'd  in  constant  course  :  no  fate 

But  is  foreset :  the  first  day  leads  the  last. 

omnia  certo  tramite  uadunt 

primusque  dies  dedit  extremum.  [Oedipiis  1008-9.) 


on   ^lizahetlum  Tragechf»  149 

Page  292.     He  either  must  destroy,  or  be  destroy 'd  ; 

The  mischief's  in  the  midst ;  catch  he  that  can, 

aut  perdet,  aut  peribit.  in  medio  est  scelus 

positum  occupanti.  [TJii/entefs  203-4.) 

„  Like  as  the  craggy  rock 

Resists  the  streams  and  flings  the  waltering  waves 
Aloof,  so  he  rejects  and  scorns  my  words. 

ut  dura  cautes  undique  intractabilis 
resistit  undis  et  lacessentes  aquas 
longe  remittit,  uerba  sic  spernit  mea. 

{Hipiyolytus  588-590.) 

Page  295.     A  troubled  head  :  my  mind  revolts  to  fear, 
And  bears  my  body  back. 

nunc  contra  in  metus 
reuoluor,  animus  haeret  ac  retro  cupit 
corpus  rcferre.  {Thyestas  418-420.) 

Page  298.     0  false  and  guileful  life.     0  crafty  world  ! 
Page  299.     How  cunningly  convey'st  thou  fraud  unseen  I 

Th'  ambitious  seemeth  meek,  the  wanton  chaste  : 

Disfi^uised  vice  for  virtue  vaunts  itself. 


^o> 


o  uita  fallax.     obditos  sensus  geris 

animisque  pulcram  turbidis  faciem  induis. 

pudor  inpudentem  celat  audacem  quies, 

pietas  nefandum.  {Hijypolytus  926-9.) 

No  place  is  left  for  prosperous  plight :  mishaps 
Have  room  and  ways  to  run  and  walk  at  will. 

prosperis  rebus  locus 
ereptus  oomis,  dira  qua  ueniant  habent.         (2'roas  432-3.) 


150  The  Injivxnce  of  Serteca 

Page  302.     Death  only  frees  the  guiltless  from  annoys. 

mors  innocentem  sola  fortunae  eripit.  [Oedipus  955.) 

„  Who  so  hath  felt  the  force  of  greedy  fates, 

And  'dur'd  the  last  decree  of  grisly  death, 
Shall  never  yield  his  captive  arms  to  chains, 
Nor  drawn  in  triumph  deck  the  victor's  pomp. 

quisquis  sub  pedibus  fata,  rapacia 
et  puppem  posuit  liminis  ultimi, 
non  captiua  dabit  bracchia  uinculis 
nee  pompae  ueniet  uobile  ferculum. 

{Hercules  Oetaeun  107-110.) 

,,  My  youth  (1  gi-a.nt)  and  prime  of  budding  years, 

Putt\l  lip  with  pride  ajid  fond  desire  of  praise, 
Poreweening  nought  what  perils  might  en.sue, 
'Adventured  all  and  raught  to  will  the  reins : 
But  now  this  age  requires  a  sager  course, 
And  will,  advis'd  by  harms,  to  wisdom  yields. 
Those  swelling  spirits,  the  self-same  cause  which  first 
Set  them  on  gog,  even  fortune's  favours  quail'd. 

fateor  aliquando  inpotens 
regno  ac  superbus  altius  memet  tuli, 
sed  fregit  illos  spiritus  haec  quae  dare 
potuisset  alii  causa  fortunae  fauor.  (Troops  275-8. y 

Page  303.     'Tis  safest  then  to  dare,  when  most  you  fear. 

tutissimum  est  inferre  cum  timeas  gradura, 

{Hi'pfolytus  730. 

„  Cador.  Then  may  you  rule. 

Arthur.  When  I  may  die. 

Cador.  To  rule  is  much. 

Arthur.  Small,  if  we  covet  nought. 


on  Elkahethan  Tragedy.  151 

Tant.  pater,  potes  regnare. 

Thy.  cum  possim  mori. 

Tant.   summa  est  potestas. 

Thy.  nulla  si  cupias  nihil. 

{Thyestes  442-3.) 

Page  .304.     Trust  me,  bad  things  have  often  glorious  names. 

mihi  crede,  falsis  magna  nomiiiibus  placent. 

( Thyestes  448.) 

Page  305.     Rome  puffs  us  up,  and  makes  us  too — too  fierce. 

There,  Britons,  there  we  stand,  whence  Eome  did  fall. 

Troia  nos  tumidos  facit 
nimium  ac  feroces?     stamus  hoc  Danai  loco 
unde  ilia  cecidit.  (Troas  273-5.) 

„  Thou,  Lucius,  mak'st  me  proud,  thou  heav'st  my  mind  ; 

But  what?     Shall  I  esteem  a  crown  ought  else 
Than  as  a  gorgeous  crest  of  easeless  helm. 
Or  as  some  brittle  mould  of  glorious  pomp, 
Or  glittering  glass  which,  while  it  shines,  it  breaks  ? 
All  this  a  sudden  chance  may  dash,  and  not 
Perhaps  with  thirteen  kings,  or  in  nine  years  : 
All  may  not  find  so  slow  and  lingering  fates. 

tu  me  superbum  Priame  tu  tumidum  facis, 
ego  esse  quicquam  sceptra  nisi  uano  putem 
f ulgore  tectum  nomen  et  falso  comam 
uinclo  decentem  ?     casus  haec  i-apiet  breuis 
nee  mille  forean  ratibus  aut  annis  decem. 
non  omnibus  fortuna  tarn  lenta  inminet. 

{Troas  279-284.) 

Page  311.     A  hopeless  fear  forbids  a  happy  fate. 

miserrimura  est  timere  cum  speres  nihil.        {Troas  434.) 


152  The  Influence  of  Seneca 


Page  311     All  truth,  all  trust,  all  blood,  all  bands  be  broke  ! 

(continued), 

fratris  et  fas  (it  fides 
iu.sque  omne  pereat,  [Thyestes  47-48.) 


Page  312.  For  were  it  light,  that  ev'n  by  birth  myself 
Was  bad,  I  made  my  sister  bad  :  nay,  were 
That  also  light,  I  have  begot  as  bad. 

hoc  leue  est  quod  sum  nocens, 
feci  nocentes.     hoc  quoque  etiamnunc  leuo  est, 
peperi  nocentes.  [Thehais  367-9.) 

Page  313.     Care  upon  care,  and  every  day  n  new 

Fresh  rising  tempest  tires  the  tossed  minds. 

alia  ex  aliis  cura  fatigat 

uexatque  animos  noua  tempestas.      [Agamemnon  62-6.;.) 

„  Who  strives  to  stand  in  pomp  of  princely  port. 

On  giddy  top  and  culm  of  slippery  court. 
Finds  oft  a  heavy  fate ;  whiles  too  much  known 
To  all  he  falls  unknown  unto  himself. 

stet  quicumque  uolet  potens 
aulae  culmine  lubrico  : 

illi  mors  grauis  incubat, 

qui  notus  nimis  onmibus, 

ignotus  moritur  sibi.  {Thyesies  391-2,  401-3.) 

„  My  slender  bark  shall  creep  anenst  the  shore, 

And  shun  the  winds  that  sweep  the  waltering  waves. 
Proud  fortune  overslips  the  safest  roads. 
Page  314.     And  seeks  amidst  the  surging  seas  those  keels, 

Whose  lofty  tops  and  tacklings  touch  the  clouds, 


on   Elizahethan  Tragedy.  153 

striiigat  tenuis  litora  puppis 
nee  magna  meos  aura  phaselos 
iubeat  medium  scindere  pontum. 
transit  tutos  fortuna  sinus 
medioque  rates  quaerit  in  alto 
quarum  feriunt  suppara  nubes. 

{Hercules  Oetcmis  698-703.) 

Page  3  J  4:     With  endless  cark  in  glorious  courts  and  towns, 
:o  I ,;  .     .     rj^j^^  ti-Qubled  hopes  and  trembling  fears  do  dwell. 

turbine  magno  spes  sollicitae 

urbibus  errant  trepidique  metus.    (Hercules  Furens  163-4.) 

Page  315.  Who  forbiddeth  not  offence, 

If  well  he  may,  is  cause  of  such  offence. 

qui  non  uetat  peccare,  cum  possit,  iubet.  {Troas  300.) 

Page  317.     Declare  !  we  joy  to  handle  all  our  harms. 

prose(iuere:  gaudet  aerumnas  meus  dolor 

tractare  totas.  (Troas  1076-7.) 

„  Small  griefs  can  speak,  the  great  astonish'd  stand. 

curae  leues  loquuntur  ingentes  stupent.     [Hi^jpolytus  615.) 

,,  Gil.      What  greater  sin  could  hap,  than  what  be  pass'd? 

What  mischiefs  could  be  meant,  more  than  were 
wrought  1 
NxiN.    And  think  you  there's  to  be  an  end  to  sins  1 

Noj  crime  proceeds  :  those  made  but.  one  degree. 

Chor.  an  ultra  maius  aut  atrocius 

natura  recipit  ? 
Nvnt.  sceleris  hunc  finem  putay  ? 

gradus  est.  {Thyestes  lib  7.) 


154  2'he  Infiuencc  of  Seneca 

Page  325.     He  was  the  joy  and  hope,  and  hap,  of  all, 

The  realm's  defence,  the  sole  delay  of  fates  ; 
He  was  our  wall  and  fort :  twice  thirteen  years 
His  shoulders  did  the  Briton  state  support. 

columen  patriae  mora  fatorum  ^ 

tu  praesidium  Phrygibus  fessis 

tu  murus  eras  umerisque  tuis 

stetit  ilia  decern  fulta  per  annos.  {Troas  128-131.) 

Page  332.     Where  each  man  else  hath  felt  his  several  fate, 
I  only  pine,  oppress'd  with  all  their  fates  ! 

sua  quemque  tantum,  me  omnium  clades  premit. 

{Troas  1071.) 

Page  333.     The  hot-spurr'd  youth,  that  forc'd  the  forward  steeds, 
Whiles  needs  he  would  his  father's  chariot  guide, 
Neglecting  what  his  sire  had  said  in  charge  : 
The  fires  which  first  he  flung  about  the  poles, 
Himself  at  last,  most  woful  wretch,  inflam'd. 

ausus  aeternos  agitare  currus 

immemor  metae  iuuenis  paternae 

quos  polo  sparsit  furiosus  ignes 

ipse  recepit.  {Medea  602-605.) 

Page  334.     We  could  not  join  our  minds — our  fates  we  join'd. 

non  licuit  animos  iungere,  at  certe  licet 

iunxisse  fata.  {Uippolytus  1192-3  ) 

,,  They  lov'd  to  live  that,  seeing  all  their  realm 

Thus  topsy-turvy  turn,  would  grudge  to  die. 

uitae  est  auidus  quisquis  nou  uult 

muudo  secum  pereunte  mori,  {Thyestes  886-7.) 


on   Elizabethan  Tragedy.  155 

Page  339.     Whoe'er  received  such  favour  from  above, 
That  could  assure  one  day  unto  himself  l 

nemo  tam  diuos  habuit  fauentes, 

crastinum  ut  possit  sibi  polliceri.  (Thyestes  619-620.) 

„  Him  whom  the  morning  found  both  stout  and  strong, 

The  evening  left  all  grovelling  on  the  ground. 

quern  dies  uidit  ueniens  superbum, 

hunc  dies  uidit  fugiens  iacentem.  {Thyestes  613-4.) 


GUARDIAN'    STKAM    PRINTING   WORKS,    OXFORD   STREET,    BOLTON. 


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